Outlining your career path at Investigo: an interview with Louise

In the second part of our series of interviews on the career paths at Investigo, we speak to Louise Corbally, who heads up recruitment for temporary, contract and interim finance and accountancy roles. Joining Investigo’s Banking and Financial Services team four-and-a-half year’s ago, Louise has worked her way up from principal consultant to senior principal consultant to partner. She now shares her experiences of taking the billing route and offers her advice for recruiters looking to follow in her footsteps.

What made you choose the billing route?

I managed a team in a previous role. I hired, inducted and trained for about four years. When I came to Investigo, a big selling point was that I could still achieve my financial goals while doing something slightly different. I’ve always enjoyed the management side but at this moment in my life, I wanted to focus on me. In a lot of recruitment firms, the only way to climb the career ladder, have board decision-making and financial reward, is by managing. For me, Investigo offered a slightly different route and it was only them that offered what I was looking for. At other places, it was only as manager of a team or director of a team.

How can you be successful in the billing route and what are you targeted on?

Targets will be higher compared to your peer group who are managing a team, because you only have yourself to be responsible for. Generally I would say if you’ve gone down this route, you’re a top biller anyway and want to maintain that. As well as personal targets, going down this route means you’re also responsible for business development, bringing on board new business, working key accounts effectively, passing roles across the multiple disciplines we recruit in, and being a leader within the wider team for all things client related.

If you’re managing a team, you look after the full suite of what consultants do. As a partner, you help lead the team, specifically around the more client focused side.

What should you consider when making your decision between billing and management?

What you actually enjoy about the job. In recruitment, a lot of the time the only way to get ahead is to go down the management route. I know a lot of people who have done this as it seemed like the logical next step. In the billing route, you’re still senior within the business, qualify for the LTIP (long-term incentive plan) and have a senior peer group. Don’t just do the management route because you feel that’s what you’re meant to do for your career. Likewise, you don’t have to move into executive search when you’ve been in recruitment for 10 years. Do what makes you happy. Investigo is one of the only companies where you have a choice.

What are the benefits?

You don’t have the stresses of management. Your main responsibility and accountability is to yourself, and you have to be performing every month.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve encountered along the way?

Moving to a new company and starting up the temp book again from zero. When I joined, the team focused on the big banking side. I’ve since moved the client base to include smaller and medium sized companies.

What have been the highlights?

Achieving two promotions in two years and being top biller on the Banking and Financial Services team two years in a row. I was the first ever senior principal consultant on the team and I was also the first million-pound biller in three-and-a-half years.

On top of all that, I’ve been lucky enough to attend multiple lunch clubs in fine dining restaurants around London – hopefully we’ll be able to visit a few more very soon!

If you’d like to find out more about what it’s like working at Investigo, or you’d like to talk to one of our experts about finding your next opportunity or your next hire, please contact us.