Before joining Reperio, I worked in my family’s retail business, which gave me plenty of exposure to customers and the sales side of running a business. I also studied Economics and Finance at university, which has translated well into the ERP market I recruit within today.
I joined Reperio just over three years ago in Tampa on a J1 graduate visa, with no previous recruitment experience. I started as a Resourcer, with my initial focus largely on the candidate side of the market. It was a good introduction to recruitment and gave me the chance to learn the ERP space, understand the different skill sets within it and build relationships with candidates across the US.
From there, I progressed into a Recruitment Consultant role, which gave me much more exposure to business development and the client-facing side of recruitment. That quickly became the part of the role I enjoyed most. I like speaking with companies across different industries, learning how their businesses operate and understanding where they needed support.
The variety is a big part of what keeps the job interesting. One conversation could be with a technology company and the next with a manufacturer, nonprofit or financial services business, all with completely different requirements. Particularly within ERP, you are often speaking with finance and technology leaders about an implementation, system issue or wider business project, rather than simply discussing an individual vacancy.
After my J1 visa ended, I returned to Belfast and spent the next couple of years continuing to develop my market. During that time, I became much more established on the client side, built longer-term relationships and took greater ownership of business development and growing my own desk.
I have since returned to Tampa on an E2 visa as a Team Lead, with a focus on growing our US contract business and building out the team here. Coming back to the office where I originally started, but this time with more responsibility for developing the market and team, has probably been the biggest milestone in my time with Reperio so far.
A big part of why my time here has been so enjoyable has undoubtedly been the culture and the people I have worked with in both Belfast and Tampa. I have been lucky enough to be part of plenty of lunch clubs and company trips over the last few years, including Paris, Dubrovnik, Bilbao and Nashville. They have been a great bonus to the job and a chance to spend time with colleagues outside of the office.
For anyone considering joining Reperio, I would say be prepared to put the work in, particularly at the beginning. Recruitment takes time to learn, and there will always be good and bad days. Starting on the candidate side gave me a strong grounding in the market before moving into a more client-focused role, and having that understanding of both sides has been important throughout my career so far.
Looking ahead, there is a lot we want to achieve in Tampa. The focus is on continuing to grow our US contract business, building a strong team here and developing long term relationships with more companies across the country. The US market gives us a huge amount of scope to grow, both within the areas we already know well and into new markets over time. It is still relatively early in that journey, which is what makes the next few years particularly exciting.
Gerard McGirr
