Celebrating Ten Years 1999-2009

This year we reached our 10th anniversary.
When I set up Paul Harper Search & Selection in 1999 I had little idea how much the industry would change in the next ten years.
Back in those days the financial services industry looked very different.
The industry was dominated by high commission products with high initial charges and, although they were in decline, most companies still had a direct sales force.
It was into this environment that I launched a specialist Search &
Selection business.
While our competitors were focused on volume recruitment of advisers, we concentrated on the supply of specialist sales & marketing staff to the more discerning clients.
Many of the big names of ten years ago have vanished through merger, acquisition or rebranding.
Major names in 1999 which no longer write new business in 2009 included Pearl
Assurance, Refuge Assurance, Sun Life, Royal & Sun Alliance, NPI, J Rothschild, Allied Dunbar, Eagle Star, Britannia Life, Commercial Union, Equity & Law, General Accident & Provident Mutual.
This trend is still continuing as 2009 saw the end of the Norwich Union brand when it was replaced by Aviva and the Clerical Medical name disappeared as the company was subsumed within Scottish Widows.
We have always taken the time to understand our client brief and ensure we find the right person for the job - however difficult or challenging the client requirement.
Our values have held true to this day. Over the past ten years we have continually found specialist staff when others have failed.
As a result, the vast majority of our placed candidates remain in the company where we placed them, often having progressed through promotion.    A couple of years ago, the Sales Director of one of the UK’s largest life offices emailed me to say his company had won “IFA Sales Force of the Year”. He thanked me, saying the majority of his top performers had been recruited by us during a two year retained search campaign which had been run by us over five years earlier.
Over the past decade we have successfully worked for the majority of Life Offices, and a high number of Asset Managers, & Platform Providers. It is these experiences and relationships which have held us in good stead, particularly during the periodic downturns our industry has experienced. 
We have always been particularly strong at finding Directors and specialists and over the years we have been retained to build new teams to support launches. Examples include; the launch of L&G International, the creation of a specialist protection team at Zurich and the expansion phase of Winterthur Life, L&G, Clerical Medical and AIG.
We are also proud to have kick-started the growth of investment houses such as Principal Investment Managers, Skandia Investment Managers and M&G at various times over the past 10 years.
As the market has changed we have had to learn to adapt. Even before the onset of RDR, the retail landscape was changing. We saw the growth, stagnation and rebirth of telesales as providers sought more cost effective distribution methods which still provide market reach. Over the years we have become experts in this area, supplying managers and directors to lead telephone distribution for many major players.
Adding Value —The Key to Our Success
It is often a new Director appointment that signals change in a business. By being involved from the start we have been able to guide them in what we can do for them.
Research
Unlike other recruitment companies in our sector, we have an in house research department which is invaluable in planning recruitment campaigns. By instructing us to research a market in advance of a launch, we can provide insight into the structure of a market and key competitors within it, as well as benchmarking salaries, thus helping a company to gain traction through recruiting the right people from the start.
Since our launch a decade ago, most of our major campaigns have been preceded by research undertaken by our in house researchers. Alison French has headed our research function for over 5 years. We think this is why our appointments are so successful and most appointed candidates remain in place so long.
Salary Surveys
As well as specific research, Paul Harper Search & Selection has been well known for its Salary Surveys.
This month sees the launch of our latest Salary Survey.  The survey has helped many clients to benchmark salaries as they seek to compete in recruiting the best.

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