Life at Zeren: An Associate’s Perspective

By Oscar Miller, an Associate in Zeren’s London office.

Why did you join Zeren?

I’ve always had a passion for technology and a keen interest in the global Venture Capital ecosystem. Zeren offered me the opportunity to combine the two, and I was excited to join a young company with ambitious plans to grow.

What is your role within Zeren?

I’m currently an Associate and a member of the Research function, and joined Zeren roughly 6 months ago. My role is to support the Directors and Senior Consultants on senior retained searches across our core functions: Sales & Marketing, Product & Technology and HR & Finance via market mapping, candidate ID, market intelligence and sales enablement.

What do you enjoy about working at Zeren?

I think there are 3 aspects which I really enjoy about working at Zeren:

• Firstly, the lean structure of the team enables less experienced team members, such as myself, to work in close proximity with the Directors. This provides fantastic exposure to all elements of the search process and fundamentally leads to an elevated learning experience!

• Secondly, as a Researcher, we start as industry agnostic, and therefore are not pigeonholed into one specific function. I feel that this is invaluable early on in your career, as understandably there are some areas that you will enjoy more than others. So far, I have run research projects for global Marketing leaders, Product VP roles and Engineering team building projects.

• Thirdly, this degree of internal freedom is also reflected, in some regards, to our client base. We work with early-stage businesses at different stages of their growth journey, and no two mandates are the same. Furthermore, there is often no “perfect candidate” and I enjoy problem solving with both the client and consultant to achieve a positive outcome – this for me, is what keeps the role fresh and sets Zeren apart from other Executive Search firms that make you specialise from day 1.

What is your opinion on the culture?

It’s genuinely refreshing to be in a recruitment business that offers a supportive, non-egotistical environment that promotes a healthy work/life balance. Of course, there are expectations and client deadlines that need to be met but generally 9-6 is the norm. I’m equally, very appreciative that I get to work from home on Mondays and Fridays – I can finally enjoy the weekend without the dread of a Monday morning commute on the Northern line…

What does the future hold for you?

2021 has been a great year for recruitment, and Zeren included; it feels as though many clients are doing their best to make up for the lack of hiring in 2020. As a result of this success, I’ve received a promotion and the opportunity to make an early move into an Associate Consultant position within the Product team. I’m thrilled to have progressed so quickly as I know the typical path in Executive Search usually involves many years in Research before becoming client facing. In the long-term, I hope to one day become a Director and regarded as an expert in my space – I’m looking forward to what’s to come!