My First Month at Venari Partners - Harry Kearney

A month ago, I joined Venari Partners as Head of Research. Every company says it has a great culture, so I will try not to. Instead, here are a few things that stood out in my first four weeks at this executive search firm.

The Venari Partners welcome

First days are usually about logins and paperwork. Mine was about people. I arrived at my desk with a fantastic welcome pack (branded bag, umbrella, coffee cup and more). I had multiple people stop by to introduce themselves and welcome me to the team. I then received a text from my wife to inform me a bottle of champagne had arrived at home before being taken out for a fantastic welcome lunch with a few of the team. As first days go, that was a pretty strong start.

By the end of the first week, I had met my whole team including those based remotely and have been blown away by the quality of the team I’ve walked into. I was introduced to all our systems and had individual meetings with the wider business diarised. I was also very kindly shown the local public house after work on Thursday. Nobody made me feel like the new person for long.

How people work together in executive search

What I have noticed most is how often people help each other without being asked. If somebody identifies a time saving initiative or a way to increase the quality of our output, it is shared widely rather than ringfenced. Knowledge is shared, not guarded. Questions are welcome, whoever is asking. It is a busy place with real deadlines, but people still make time for each other.

A new executive search brand that matches the reality

I joined just as Venari Partners launched its new brand. It is built on three ideas: we work at pace, we care about the detail, and we care about people.

I will admit I was sceptical. Brand values often sound good on a website and disappear in the office. Here, I have seen them in practice. For an interim management mandate requiring a consultant with an M&A background and end to end transaction experience, they introduced qualified candidates within 48 hours and completed the entire interview-to-engagement cycle within 10 days. I have also been close to a retained search for a PE owned CEO role and the level of detail in the work and reporting is phenomenal. Every candidate that engaged with the process was given feedback whether they progressed further or not.

Our values, positive, people, progressive and professional, are not posters on the wall. They show up in how decisions get made.

Many backgrounds, many languages

On any given day in the office you will hear several languages, including Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Mandarin and Portuguese. With offices in London, Miami, Amsterdam, and Madrid, that range is part of how we work, not a footnote.

It makes a real difference. We are currently hiring a Spanish speaker into my team to help support our clients in Latin America. Being able to have colleagues interview them in Spanish as well as English is incredibly helpful. Different backgrounds mean different perspectives, and our clients benefit from that.

Venari Partners - a place people want to be

The leadership team talks openly about wanting people to enjoy coming to work. What surprised me is how they have backed it up: team lunches, flexible working, celebrations, and company conferences that bring everyone together.

None of this means the work is easy. Executive search is demanding, and the standards are high. But it is easier to do your best work when you like the people around you.

One month in, I am glad I made the move and am looking forward to the next eleven.