Moon Consulting Ltd is a recruitment firm founded in 2000 that specializes in executive-level roles. Vanessa Moon has 25 years of experience in senior executive recruitment. She discusses Moon Consulting's experience building teams from startups to large companies through various case studies. She provides tips on hiring, team dynamics, and developing a strong team.

1. Moon Consulting Ltd
Vanessa Moon
BCS / BEN Tech Start up school 2010
18th October 2010
Subject - Team

2. Agenda
• Moon Consulting Ltd – personal and company
backgrounds
• Our experience of building teams – from start up to
current stage
• Case studies of team builds
• Hiring – tips on recruiting
• Team dynamics
• Your team
• Summary
• Contact details

3. Personal background
• 25 years in Senior Executive Recruitment
• Degree Human Communication psychology and
philosophy from Aston
• Career started at Rank Xerox
• Worked for US owned recruiter, UK search firm and
shareholder with a 3i backed business
• Managed teams since the age of twenty six, largest
team reporting was twenty five

4. Company background
• Moon Consulting Set up in 2000
• 2010 our tenth year anniversary
• MC self funded no external investment
• Three Directors
• Executive Resourcing, Management Recruitment and
Business Consulting
• General Board level roles, from MD, FD, Sales Director,
HRD and Ops as well as Non- Executive Director,
Chairman, CEO and MBO / MBI candidates.
• Client base ranges from start-ups to multi-national PLCs
– many national preferred supply arrangements with
large corporates

5. Company background
• We work with VC’s and Private Equity businesses
• Database Search, advertised recruitment and
confidential search and selection services
• Bespoke offering – Each assignment unique
• Strong client and candidate retention, over 75% of
all campaigns are referred
• Delivery and success rates are over 90%
• Other services – business consulting – FD and HRD
services - behavioural profiling, talent banking, team
mapping and tracking at competitor organisations

6. Case Studies
• On line e learning business – high profile owner,
privately backed, range of decision makers
• First hire – General Manager
• Second hire – Office Manager but greater skills covering
HR, marketing, PR – person was over skilled for the
role.
• Internet campaign for first role, personal contact for
second, we knew the business by then and understood
where there would be best fit. Business has grown to
c30 employees.
• Value of second hire

7. Case Studies
• Engineering business – 3 founder Directors / share
holders, SME, business growing rapidly
• Original brief – HR strategy and procedures, through MC
HR services
• Moved to recruitment and selection – confidentiality
issues - technical specialists, specific search campaign
• Company will double in size
• Clear understanding of business and culture / ethos
required

8. Case Studies
• IT Business, new MD, assessing board structure – team
build at senior level
• Our campaign – bring in new board members, starting
with Sales Director, then two further board level roles
• Niche sector, targeted head hunt, NDA’s in some
situations
• Psychometrics, competency based interviewing
• My role – very close relationship with MD and business
• Important to remember each hire critical to success of
business and sent a message to market place
• Result, 3 new board members, hired over an eighteen
month period

9. Hiring – tips on recruiting
• Decide what you want!
• Market forces – availability of type of person
• Formalities – job description, application process, who
assesses, interview, assessment, presentation
• Where / how to find relevant candidates
• Linked in / networking – working with search firms
• Head hunting
• Advertised campaigns
• Time scales – interim vs permanent hire
• Legislation - i.e. Equality Act 2010 – what you can and
can’t ask

10. Team dynamics
• Four Stages of Team Development - Forming, Storming, Norming,
and Performing
• Looking at how a team develops
• Understand / Discover Your Team's Strengths and weaknesses
• Impact of Personality Traits to a team – uncovering what is really
there
• Gelling together
• Going the distance, working through start up to established phase
• Coping with leavers
• Unforeseen personal events (sudden illness, family bereavement)
• Bringing in new people to an established team

11. Your team
• Protocols and Legislation – Having T’s and C’s, training, induction,
appraisals, formal procedures, staff hand book etc – cover most
eventualities
• Internal or External HR support
• Doing the difficult stuff, set goals and targets (and monitor),
making redundancies
• Motivating through good and bad times, reward loyalty, staff
retention
• PE / VC / external shareholder influence – different goals / vision
for the business
• Exit interview – learn from good and bad hires!
• Look at your market place, what makes successful teams, what is
competition doing
• Where are your competitors in terms of salaries, rewards, bonuses,
market trends, what you need to do to keep good hires

12. Your team
• Re evaluate all the time, economy has changed
dramatically in last 3 years, how has your team fared
• Communication – not always on email and twitter –
Team dynamics is important
• Restrictive covenants if your business is vulnerable
• Look at office set up - open plan or separate MD’s
office
• Behavioural profiling – P3 or MBTI
• Understand legal implications of being a Director and
Employer
• Correct procedures for hiring - payroll, contracts of
employment, holidays offered, hours of work, time off
in lieu etc

13. Summary
• Look at the market and your competitors – glean
valuable information
• Communication and Reward
• T’s and C’s
• Be prepared to make mistakes, but live with them!
• Understand the drivers of the shareholders
• Understand the drivers of your team members
• Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses
• Bring someone in to compliment your skill set
• Have a mentor, you need to talk about your issues
• Don’t hire a clone of your self – it’s good to be
challenged
• Value team even after they have left

14. Contact Details
• Vanessa Moon Director
• Shaun Durham Director
• Email recruit@moonconsulting.co.uk
• Web www.moonconsulting.co.uk
• Address and Registered Office:
• Moon Consulting Ltd
• The Old Fire Station
• Lodway, Pill, Bristol, BS20 0DH
• Registered in England No: 4178827.