Sphere Spotlight - Mattieu Roussel

From making a placement in week 6 to his first business development win in week 8, and all whilst moving to London... We sat down with Mattieu Roussel to find out more about his first 2 months in recruitment, since joining as a graduate in April 2019.

Mattieu is a Performance Marketing specialist on Sphere's International desk. 

Mattieu, thanks for sitting down with us. How have you found your first couple of months at Sphere?

It's been really good! I found that I could pick up the job quickly and the best part has been becoming part of the team. I work alongside Niall, one of the co-founders, and have a great manager, Evie. 

I interviewed with 6 other recruitment companies and all had a different vibe but I wanted to join Sphere because people actually seemed happy here. I went to some other businesses where everyone seemed so stressed. 

I expected the company to be a certain way because of the interview process and there’s no hiding behind anything, it’s exactly like it was described in the interview. 

What did your first few weeks look like?  

I had lots of training in my first week, not only learning about how to recruit but also learning about my industry - that was possibly more daunting - I could barely spell programmatic when I joined. I felt comfortable speaking about my industry after a couple of weeks. 

I picked up the phone for the first time on the Thursday of my first week to speak to candidates. On that Friday, I had shadowed my first client meeting. It was great learning from people who have been doing this for years. 

In week 3, I started Business Development; I was given a list of clients to reach out to and focused on Programmatic and E-commerce businesses in Paris and a bit in New York. By week 6, I started to map out clients I was interested in helping, mainly startups.

What have been your biggest highlights since joining? 

My biggest highlight was making my first placement [in week 6!]. 

Also, when I picked up my first role from BD in my second month. It's been a testament to all the training I've received from across the company, including Jamie, Ed, Niall, Evie, James and JJ, and for the first time, I’m doing end to end recruitment.  

 Congratulations on making your first deal! You've already kind of answered this, but what helped you accomplish that success so quickly? 

For me, I was gunning to get my first placement and I know every grad wants to do well but I really benefited from being on a team where you can learn so much from the people around you; Niall has been in the industry for 10 years and Evie for 3. They really supported me by helping with my clients, candidates and what questions to be asking. 

Was becoming a recruitment consultant what you were expecting it to be like? 

I had the advantage of knowing I wanted to go into recruitment. I looked at myself, what the role required, and did my research. Its exactly what I expected but I guess I didn’t expect to get to grips so quickly and I didn’t expect it to be so supportive. Niall is always available, that’s the biggest surprise, both of the two founders are so involved in consultants', and associate consultants', career - that’s really impressed me!

You mentioned you had the advance of knowing you want to go into recruitment and for a lot of graduates we speak to, they haven't heard of recruitment before they come across a job ad.
What was it about the industry that you were attracted to? 

There were things I recognised in recruitment that I saw in myself; coming from a hospitality background, I knew I wanted to be somewhere I could be chatty and client facing. I prefer recruitment to a sales role because it's more personal, you're genuinely dealing with people’s lives.  

 What was it about Sphere Digital that made you want to join? 

I met with so many different rec companies when I was interviewing. I saw huge 10,000+ people businesses and tiny start-ups, and there’s definitely a different atmosphere. When I interviewed at Sphere, I immediately got a sense of what the day-to-day would be like and I actually got to understand people at interview - it was more of a two-way thing at interview, not just me being asked a checklist of things. 

At other interviews, I felt like I would be reduced to a number, whereas here, I feel part of the team. Everyone makes a real effort to get to know you.  

What’s your plan for the rest of 2019?  

I’m gunning for a promotion! My goals are to use my French as much as possible, feel confident in my profession, and continue learning. I’m on my way but there’s still so much to learn.  

If you're interested in a career in recruitment, then please, Apply Here