Our Transport & Logistics Divisional Manager, John Wilson, has achieved a lot in his time with Aspion.
In just three years, he has…
- Been promoted to Divisional Manager.
- Built a team – and is on his way to getting a third person promoted in that team!
- Billed his two best ever years in recruitment.
- Been involved with a lot of key management decisions across the business, with the support and leadership of our director Glen Walsh.
He sat down with Aiden Wynn, Aspion’s content writer, to talk about his career journey so far.
John’s journey with Aspion
Aiden:
Did you work in recruitment before joining Aspion?
John:
I’d only ever worked for one other company in recruitment, which was the role prior to this, and I was there for six years. So, for me to make the decision to move, it had to be to the right place.
Aiden:
What made you decide to take the leap and join the business?
John:
Well, one of the big motivators for me was who I would be working with, the leadership’s management style and the company’s direction. And I thought I’d found that with another job offer – until I met with Glen.
The office back when I joined was smaller, but even then, I could see Glen’s passion and the innovativeness of the business, and it was all backed up by the technology that we use. It was just miles ahead of anything I’d ever seen before.
I knew I was capable of more and I wanted to be pushed. I could see that Glen and the business would get that out of me and more…
Aiden:
And have they?
John:
Definitely! Within three years, I’ve been promoted and I’ve built a team here. I’d wanted to be challenged and progress in my career, and the results speak for themselves – in my first two years at Aspion, I’d already out-billed what I had done in my previous role!
Here, the culture is that you’re not micromanaged. You’ve got the skillset and you’re employed because of that skillset, as well as your track record. You get the feeling that you’ve got autonomy and control. There are no barriers in your way…
Aiden:
So, how did that come about, starting a division and building your own team?
John:
When I started at Aspion, we didn’t have a Transport & Logistics division, so it was just me.
One day, Glen sat me down and said: “Is there a market within the driving and logistics sectors?”
When I said yes, he asked me to draw up a business plan and, when I did, he was all for starting the division! Glen really invested in me and the division, and I got the results and billed, so he knew it was working.
So, from the start, I wasn’t just being pushed from a personal billings perspective – I was also being developed into the management side. Now, we’ve got five people on the team and we continue to grow.
Aiden:
Do you feel as though you’ve had plenty of freedom since starting the new division?
John:
Yeah, definitely. Here, the culture is that you’re not micromanaged. You’ve got the skillset and you’re employed because of that skillset, as well as your track record. You get the feeling that you’ve got autonomy and control. There are no barriers in your way – Glen wants that out of you.
At the same time, there are all these great systems and processes in place that are miles ahead of anything I’ve seen before that, by following, you can become successful. So it’s a win-win formula.
I’ve got achievements from both a personal and career perspective – they evolved hand in hand.
Aiden:
How do you see your team progressing from here?
John:
The vision for the team is for us to grow so that we can cover more locations.
In shipping, for example, one person covers Felixstowe, one’s Manchester, one’s Liverpool… But there are seven or eight major ports in the UK. Effectively, that means there’s a team of eight minimum that can be within that. So, there are a lot of opportunities to grow.
From there, I want each of the guys in the team to go on and become managers. My goal is to develop them so they can go on and manage their own teams, effectively a shipping team, a transport team, and so on…
Aiden:
Amazing. Just one more question – what would you say has been your biggest achievement working here?
John:
So, I’ve got achievements from both a personal and career perspective – they kind of evolved hand in hand.
The career achievement, obviously, was that I was promoted to divisional manager. I’ve also built a team, and I’ve got two people promoted within that team and one that’s about to be promoted.
Plus, I billed my two best ever years in recruitment. My best ever billing prior to working here was £143K, but then in my first year here it was £193K. And, this year, I’m already at £230K.
Then, from a personal perspective, because of this job, I’ve been able to get myself two houses since I’ve been here. So, when I started out, the company paid for a mortgage advisor as one of the benefits, and I got a mortgage. And since then, I’ve upgraded the house. So, I’m on my second house, which, again, the company helped me get through an upgraded mortgage advisor.
And, I’ve had a kid!
Aiden:
Congratulations! And thanks so much for your time.
Working with Aspion
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