Alex Hyde works within BIE’s Transformation Practice. We caught up with him to learn more about his professional journey, his time at BIE and which famous person he’d like to be for a day…
What’s your greatest source of job satisfaction?
I really enjoy the feeling of having helped an organisation appoint a key leadership role and knowing that they’ve found the right person to drive the business forward. Similarly, it’s great when you help a candidate secure a position that they’re really excited about and is going to progress their career. Helping organisations build teams and individuals build their careers was the thing that first attracted me to this industry and it’s still what motivates me today.
What’s the secret of your career success?
Always put the needs of the people you’re working with first and be considered in how you interact with them.
We’re helping candidates make some of the most important decisions that they will make in their lives and it’s important to build strong relationships in order to understand what they’re really looking for. We’re also helping clients find key talent for their leadership teams and the cost of getting an appointment wrong can be very damaging.
For that reason I’ve always tried to make the time to get to know the people I’m working with really well, and crucially not to make assumptions about what I think people want, or what I think they should do.
Our candidates have a better understanding of what they want from their next move and our clients know their needs better than me. It isn’t for me to tell them what to do but to listen to them and understand how I can offer the best support. In doing so I feel far better equipped to advise a candidate who I feel may be making the wrong choice or advise a client that we may need to change the approach of a search.
What are your career highlights and what achievements are you most proud of?
Building out a market leading Treasury recruitment team at Brewer Morris from scratch was great. When I joined they had no presence in that space and 5 years later we were a team of six people that hired Group Treasurers for the likes of AstraZeneca and Reckitt Benckiser.
Since joining, I’ve loved my time at BIE. I’ve enjoyed developing beyond my specialism in Treasury to work on CFO appointments and roles reporting in to them. Following a successful couple of years helping build out the Finance Practice at BIE, I’m really excited to be moving in to the Transformation space and hope that I’ll be adding another career highlight to the list soon!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard/been given?
Do the basics well, listen and be thoughtful in your approach.
What top tip would you give to people looking to move up in their career?
The people I’ve seen successfully progress and fulfil their potential are those who ensure they’re continuously learning. They have the awareness to know when they’ve gained all of their development out of their current role and build relationships that enable them to move at the right time.
How would you sum up the BIE culture?
Collaborative, thoughtful, positive and supportive.
Name one unusual fact about yourself
I was overtaken by a man with a washing machine on his back when running the London Marathon.
If given a chance, who would you be for a day?
Cillian Murphy. He’s an amazing actor who’s well known for his roles in Peaky Blinders, 28 Days Later, Inception and The Dark Knight but I’ve also just discovered his DJ shows on BB6 Music. He’s a fan of a broad range of music, has a huge back catalogue and seemingly has an extraordinary amount of time to research his sets despite having two kids. Doesn’t sound like a bad life to me!
Name one thing on your bucket list
I’d love to take the family on a US road trip. I spent two years growing up there in the 90s and have amazing memories of different road trips we did. A few that stick out were New York, Boston and New England in the fall, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and California later that year and best of all one down the east coast arriving at Disney World for my 9th birthday. I’d love to experience these again with my children, Finlay who’s 2 and Thea who’s 13 weeks. They’re a bit too young for it right now so we have time to do some planning!
What fictional world or place would you like to visit and why?
I was obsessed with Star Wars when I was younger and would have loved to have been Luke Skywalker. Who wouldn’t want to be the hero who saves the day at that age, but now I’m older I think I’d rather be Hans Solo. Harrison Ford plays the part so well.
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