Oliver Sanderson is an executive search firm with a difference – combining experience and expertise with innovation and fresh thinking. The company specializes in finding talent at the board and senior leadership level for FTSE 100, FTSE 350, Fortune 500, and PE-backed businesses. Placing permanent and interim positions across a wide range of sectors, Oliver Sanderson has built up a strong record of accomplishment of C-suite appointments. With its suite of digital apps and powerful diversity and inclusion work, Oliver Sanderson is leading the way in discovering the next generation of business leaders.

A Leader Born Out of Confidence and Talent

Natasha Makhijani leads Oliver Sanderson Group PLC, as its Founder and CEO. Natasha graduated with Bachelor's and Master's degrees from City, University of London, and DePaul University in Chicago, respectively. She began her recruitment career on the Graduate Scheme at Hays. After achieving four successive promotions in four years, Natasha took up senior management roles, moved from Hays to Michael Page, and earned recognition as a top biller. Having set up executive desks at both Hays and Michael Page, Natasha decided to launch her own business. She reveals that Oliver Sanderson was born in her dining room, and what began as one woman, and a laptop has grown into an international business at the cutting-edge of executive search.

Natasha is a purpose-driven leader with a strong understanding of executive search and expertise in digital recruitment solutions. Being a pioneer in this field, she leads the creation of Oliver Sanderson's new executive apps and Snapp CV. It is the world's first mobile job board with voice technology capability and Amazon Alexa connectivity. Natasha is passionate about tackling D&I challenges with clients and is currently establishing a charity with a team of leading figures to address a range of issues related to race equality, disability, and gender.

The Go-Getter

Natasha considers the launch of Oliver Sanderson as a major turning point in her career. Natasha states that she comes from a very entrepreneurial community, and hence felt that there was something more out there, even though she was happy in the jobs at Hays and Michael Page. Although people questioned her decisions, she took the risk and since then has not looked back. Natasha launched Oliver Sanderson in 2011, now the company is an international executive search firm, working with FTSE 100, FTSE 350, and Fortune 500 companies, and winning awards. Natasha believes that she built a great team, but still, has a lot more to achieve together, and she finds it hugely exciting.

The Stereotypical Society's Odd One Out

Natasha remembers that she has faced unique challenges as an Asian woman CEO in a male-dominated industry, but always seen this difference as a strength. Natasha has always stood out from the crowd and taken new approaches, allowing the business to be more adaptable to change. Most importantly, she admits to having to be extremely assertive to get where she is today. Natasha is proud that apart from just working to deliver success for the team, she is also inspiring other young women from minority communities, especially those who feel different, by telling them they can achieve success by going in unique ways.

Creating an Inclusive Strong Team

According to Natasha, a great leader should be able to empower others and foster a great team. Her success at Oliver Sanderson is by building a happy, confident, and engaged team who work well together mentions Natasha. She reminds that building a strong team is not easy and as a team leader, Natasha focuses on creating an inclusive environment where every member feels valued. Natasha empowers the team by giving them autonomy and trust and making sure there are regular meetings to connect, both professionally and socially.

Studies have shown that a good team spirit promotes wellbeing and productivity and it has been challenging to maintain this kind of connection during the COVID pandemic, as many other business leaders around the world have discovered, says Natasha.

She tackled this challenge by holding regular remote catch-ups unrelated to work, running virtual team building sessions where the team had lunch together, organizing online yoga classes, playing remote games, and other fun activities. Thinking outside the box is important, as per Natasha, since the monotony of remote working proves to be very difficult for employees. She reiterates that leaders need to adapt to the "new normal" and create supportive environments as the business world moves towards establishing new hybrid and remote working models, which are here to stay.

Innovation is the Core

At Oliver Sanderson, the team is constantly innovating to provide value to its clients and the wider community. Natasha says that the company's permanent practice has built up a strong track record in end-to-end executive search and consultancy after placing CEOs and senior leaders at FTSE 100, FTSE 350, and Fortune 500 companies. Oliver Sanderson recently saw a gap in the market for interim specialists and established its new brand, Just Interims, to provide creative solutions to the interim recruitment needs of the clients. Specializing in HR and Business Change, Just Interims sources executive specialists for clients requiring interim support to overcome complex challenges and navigate periods of change.

The company also established partnerships with leading industry professionals to offer its clients a series of consultancy services to complement the executive search processes. Oliver Sanderson now delivers Executive Coaching, Psychometric Testing and Assessments, and D&I Consulting. These new ventures highlight the company's ability to innovate to meet the ever-changing needs of its clients, claims Natasha.

Unique Digital Solutions for Seamless Recruitment

New technology is transforming executive search and recruitment, and it has been central to Oliver Sanderson's rapid growth. Natasha has been recognized as a pioneer of digital innovations since co-founding Snapp CV & Resume, the world's first mobile job board with voice technology capability and Amazon Alexa connectivity. The app currently has a database of over 25 million candidates in the UK and the USA, with over 250,000 positions listed on its mobile job board. Natasha recently launched a dedicated Oliver Sanderson Executive app after the success of the Snapp suite. Designed and created by the company's in-house tech team, the Executive app provides digital solutions at every stage of the appointment process, featuring introductory candidate and client profile videos, fingerprint and password-protected online NDA signatures, digital candidate packs, integrated job applications, and video interviews.

With digital platforms increasingly becoming prominent in the executive search and recruitment industry, Oliver Sanderson is leading the way with its executive app and integration with Snapp CV. In Natasha's words, the company's objective is to harness the power of modern technology to discover and connect with the next generation of business leaders.

Leading the Race in Future

Although digital platforms are simplifying some of the manual tasks of recruitment and sourcing, Natasha says they will never replace the headhunter. She says that although machines are becoming intelligent, they still cannot match great people with great jobs like those that Oliver Sanderson can. However, in her opinion, digital platforms can help the company to unlock a new world of global talent.

Oliver Sanderson has exciting plans for the next 5-10 years, reveals the CEO. Natasha says that the company is growing its team, planning an expansion in Oliver Sanderson's Europe and the US operations, and has just launched an ambitious new charity with an initial focus on race equality and black leadership.

The only certainty in business is change and there is a need to constantly innovate to keep up, continuously learning, expanding, and adapting, and that is how Oliver Sanderson will remain at the forefront of an evolving industry, according to Natasha.

Just Be You and Success Will Follow

To the emerging leaders, Natasha says to believe in oneself, but be open to constructive criticism and use it to learn and grow. She asks the budding CEOs to always remember that doubts and setbacks are part of everyone's journey and the road to the top is never simple. Thus one needs to be resilient, and never give up. Natasha acknowledges that she has been doubted in the past, but she used those doubts as fuel to fire the greater successes. Whoever it is, wherever they come from, with hard work, a bit of luck, and a good team around, they can do it too, concludes Natasha.