A day in the life of…Nadine Watson, Recruitment Consultant

Nadine has been with ECL for three years and has an extensive background in corporate recruitment. Prior to joining ECL in 2021, she primarily worked in business services recruitment; working for a law firm in a number of roles over the course of 10 years. With this firm she began in employee relations, moving in to recruitment and was then seconded to the firm’s Australian office for 18 months where she worked as an HR Manager. On her return to the UK she took on a Corporate Social Responsibility role. Nadine joined ECL as a Recruitment Consultant towards the end of the pandemic after being made redundant.

Three years in, she’s loving her role, which involves overseeing the recruitment for all Corporate Services and Clinical vacancies, with the exception of our sensory services.

Nadine is the main point of contact for ECL for recruitment events and also the recruitment case studies point of contact. In addition to this, she undertakes project work within the team such as managing the update of ECL’s Recruitment and Selection Policy as well as leading on our Age Friendly Recruitment pledge.

Tell us about the role of a recruitment consultant

“It’s a really varied role which is what makes it so enjoyable. I deal with all of the corporate services and clinical recruitment requirements – excluding the Sensory team recruitment which is handled by Kirsty Dean.

“My role has changed since I started with ECL I took parental leave for 12 months and on my return wanted to work part time hours to fit around my family needs. ECL were really supportive of this and now I do part-time hours across four days a week to fit around school hours.

“As a Recruitment Consultant for Corporate Services I get to deal with all kinds of recruitment needs which is great. At one time I could be recruiting for roles within Employee Relations, Payroll, Business Insights or looking for speech and language therapists and physiotherapists for our Clinical team.”

What does a typical day look like for you?

“I know most people probably say this,  but there is no typical day because every day can be so different! It depends how many roles I have out at the time. I usually start my day by checking the applications for the vacancies I am working on and then I short list the new applications. I then catch up with the relevant hiring manager about the new applications we’ve received and discuss arranging interviews. I might then work on one of my additional projects, for example today I met with our Head of Recruitment about our Recruitment Selection Policy and to plan the details of our Pride event.”

What do you love most about your role?

“The variety. I am always doing something different and it keeps me on my toes and keeps things interesting. I am always learning in this role too, dealing with such a range of ECL departments. Plus I like the fact that I engage with so many different people. It is extremely rewarding knowing that I’m recruiting someone that will have a positive impact on the business and help ECL achieve its business objectives.”

Advice to those thinking of a career in recruitment:

“Go for it, it’s a really rewarding job. There are no barriers to joining the recruitment team, we recruit based transferable skills, enthusiasm and personality, so don’t be put off of applying for a role in the recruitment team if your background is in another area, or if you don’t think you have the right  experience and qualifications.

“ECL’s recruitment team are a great group of people. It sounds corny but we’re a really close knit team, any successes are a team success as opposed to an individuals. If you need help you can ask anyone on our team and they’ll jump in and help. It’s great knowing my colleagues always have my back and if I have annual leave I can leave my handover knowing someone will make sure things get done while I’m away.”

Interested in a role in our Recruitment team? Visit our recruitment page! www.ecl.org/careers