Progressing through the ranks

Isabel Evans is Robert Walters' Liverpool's Business Director, where the team focus on qualified finance recruitment across Liverpool, Chester and the North West. After graduating with a LLB Law degree, Isabel realised a legal career wasn't for her and made the move into recruitment.

Since joining the Robert Walters London team in 2011, her career has reached new heights and she has risen through the ranks. Isabel recounts her journey below.

I graduated with a 2:1 in Law, and after a few years travelling and working in travel sales, I thought I’d try and combine my legal background with my sales ability and applied to Robert Walters through a friend. In the end, there was a better role for me in the Finance team, so I joined our London Head Office as an Associate in August 2011. The rest is history!

At the start of 2020, just before the pandemic, I made a decision to move back to my roots in the North West, and joined our Liverpool office. To be able to move internally between cities has been a huge weight off my mind when making big decisions about where to live, especially as Covid hit!

It’s a very different environment in Liverpool – we’re one of the youngest offices in the company, a spin-off from our very successful Manchester office, so it’s a lot to get used to. I’ve gone from an office of around 400 people, to just 4 people; from getting the tube into work, to driving along the River Mersey; from a network of clients/candidates built up over 9 years, to a completely cold desk where no one knows my name!

The pandemic has obviously been hugely destructive for the recruitment industry, so to attempt to build up a totally new market, with completely new candidates, clients and industries, has been extremely challenging. The most important part of our job is meeting people in person and building up relationships, so to try and break into clients without this option, where we’ve never worked with them before and they don’t know our business, has been pretty tough.

I’m extremely pleased to say that within my first year, I’ve managed to break into some of the key North West employers including Bank of America, Money Supermarket, Sykes Cottages, many of whom have never worked with Robert Walters before. There are some fantastic businesses in the North West, so hopefully the pandemic will mean more people exploring options outside of the capital!

I’ve also managed to bill consistently, achieving a couple of top biller months and providing much-needed support to the billing team up here, so hopefully they’ll let me stay…

As I approach 11 years with the business, I’m extremely lucky to work for a company that have looked after me, from the most junior ranks, all the way to Director level – Robert Walters definitely reward loyalty and hard work. They’ve also been fantastic throughout the pandemic, making sure staff welfare is first and foremost, and allowing every individual to work in a flexible way to fit with their life and family situation.

Robert Walters provides unparalleled learning and career progression opportunities. Like Isabel, you want to skyrocket your recruitment career, then we'd love to hear from you. The opportunities are endless. Click here to learn more.