FOXLEY TALENT

Hi, I'm Jon Gould, founder of Foxley Talent.

 

Here's a little bit about me, you may already know what I do but I think it's important to know why. I have worked in the recruitment industry since 2008, I joined a startup as the 2nd employee and stayed with the business as we grew internationally and won multiple industry awards. I was there for over 12 years in all and learned so much more than just how to help companies make hires. 

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I took the opportunity to become a specialist working within the Python/Django community. I decided that my measure of success wouldn't be sales figures internally but to become the go-to recruitment partner for the Python/Django community within the UK. I wanted to be seen by the community as  a trusted and reliable contributor who would help, advise and steer people through their careers whether this be as a contractor or looking for permanent employment. If I focussed on this, the sales figures would take care of themselves.

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Before LinkedIn or other social media were really dominant platforms for communicating and networking I spent most of my time speaking to people working with Django day in day out to learn what people were building and why they used the tools they did. It was suggested to me that the best place to learn more and meet more people was to attend meet up events. An evening in the pub talking Django wasn't my usual habitat (the pub maybe) but I made sure I was there every time without fail. I met some amazing people and learned far more than I would have by reading CVs. I had the bug and started (with the help of my employers) to sponsor the Pizza and Drinks at a meetup called DJUGL (Django User Group London) where we would typically meet in an office somewhere in the city and listen to some experts talk through their personal projects.

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Over time, I contributed more than food and drinks. I would regularly identify new venues to host these events through my client visits. I would also have a reliable source of speakers from my daily conversations with developers in my day job of finding them roles. I can't remember exactly when but at some point the other organisers were unable to dedicate their time to the events and it fell to me to make sure that the community had their quarterly fix of Django talks, Pizza and Beverages. 

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During my career I have worked with some great people, startups through their scale up and SME life span. I have worked across multiple industries and supported some amazing teams building incredible products. I have loved every minute of it. On a professional level, I have built and scaled my own teams within recruitment businesses, enabling people to develop and grow themselves in their own way. I always encouraged the team to find their own specialism, something that they could be passionate about and help the community. I like to think that others have benefited from this too.

 

The time now has come for me to start my own business and focus my time on the things I believe make a great recruitment partner. Service over sales. Relationships over revenue. Partnerships over pounds...

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Outside of work, I have a beautiful family who occupy most of my time and are all the motivation I need to make my business a success. I have a son and two daughters who are growing up fast. My wife also works in the recruitment/talent industry. During lockdown we asked our daughter, 4yo,  what she thought recruitment was and her answer... "Recruitment is nothing!" We laughed and it is still a running joke at home. I have adapted her words and taken this as a bit of an ethos though... "Recruitment is nothing without the people you help." 

I am a keen player and watcher of any sport, there probably isn't a game I haven't tried even some really obscure ones like Eton Fives, Real Tennis and Kayaking. I play golf regularly along with being a league/village cricketer and actually (for the first time written down) enjoying keeping fit through YouTube fitness workouts. I also have held a season ticket at Reading Football Club for longer than I care to remember,  with many frustrating evenings and weekends spent watching our average at best performances over the years.

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As well as socialising at sporting events, I do find time to visit and support the local pubs nearby. I enjoy cooking, and eating well. You can't beat a good meal, great company and a bottle of nice wine or two - my wife has a qualification in wine, that's our excuse anyway and we're sticking with it. It's not only alcohol that I enjoy, I love a strong fresh coffee, but definitely not tea.

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This is a little insight into who I am. If you would like to chat 2nd tier football, have a round of golf, talk cricket or actually book some time to talk hiring, jobs or django please reach out. My email is jon@foxleytalent.com