On Thursday 21st September, Drayton welcomed a select group of HR professionals, to the grand and impressive venue of The Royal Baths Chinese, Harrogate. In a change to our normal listing on our events calendar, we introduced a new ‘unstructured’ format, simply welcoming a small number of guests to join us for dinner, to share the latest news, comings and goings, and opportunities within their industries, along with the opportunity to informally network amongst individuals alike.
Jemma Devine, the newest member of the Drayton team speciliasing in recrutiment within the Consumer sector, with a specific focus on Health & Beauty, DIY & Homeware, and Food & Drink, played host of the evening, re- connecting with many contacts from her previous role within recruitment, along with making new introductions. Fellow Drayton Partner, Nick Maughan supported Jemma, bringing his own personal FMCG expertise and in depth knowlegde to the evenings theme.
We were delighted to be in the company of experienced senior HR Professionals, all from a real breadth of industries; food retail, branded food manufacturing, branded consumables (Small domestic appliances and electrical beauty) and pharmaceuticals. The feedback we have received has been very positive, and in keeping with our THINK SMARTER approach, and it was encouraging to learn the somewhat unstructured agenda felt very refreshing for our guests. To quote one of the comments received: “Individuals had the opportunity to informally discuss what was going on in their businesses and the broader recruitment market without a defined set of conversation topics...Good food, good fun and good conversation!”
Jemma Devine of Drayton Partners commented on her own experience of the evening and the benefits of this style of networking: “Strong smaller networking groups seems to have developed from these larger groups where individuals stay in touch and share knowledge outside of this forum. Clients/Candidates are becoming more and more “friends” of Drayton, as well as partners in business”
Our next Harrogate Networking Dinner Date for the Diary is Thursday 22nd February 2018. If you would like to learn more details or to sign up to this event, please contact katie.scott@draytonpartners.com for an informal chat.