Q&A: Demystifying the world of Headhunting

As the match makers between individuals and companies, a headhunters’ job is to seek out talent for a specific role and introduce the talent to a hirer at an organisation.

Join us to demystify the world of headhunting with Jude Thompson and Claudia Downes from Indigo Talent, Sally Quick from Mission Bay and talent manager Vicky Bennetts from Wall to Wall/Twenty Twenty. They will be speaking about how they find talent, how to get on their radar and the language you use to present yourself online and on your CV, plus tips on preparing for interviews.

Vicky Bennetts has been a Talent Management for the past five years. Jobsharing with Hattie Wood, she helps staff up all of Wall to Wall & Twenty Twenty productions & development teams, for both the London & Bristol offices. She’s passionate about nurturing new & diverse talent, and finding the right person for the right job. Before moving into talent managing she travelled the world as Series Producer, PD and Edit Producer, working across a range of factual programmes from Grand Designs (Channel 4), Michael Palin’s New Europe (BBC 1), Jamie Oliver’s Great Italian Escape (Channel 4), The Secret Life of Students (Channel 4) & the multi-platform series Battlefront (Channel 4) and drama documentaries such Banged Up Abroad (Channel 5 & Nat Geo).

Sally Quick started her career in tv, predicting ratings for C4’s North West region back when ITV (Granada) sold C4’s airtime. She then spent 10 years at C4 within advertising sales before realising that she wasn’t a stats expert and needed to do something more creative. She joined ITV as Head of Commercial Strategy and was the link between ad sales, commissioning and scheduling and enjoyed being in the space between commercial and editorial. Post ITV merger, she moved into commissioning, to look after the night-time commissioning budget and advertising funded programming at ITV. In 2006 she moved into digital broadcasting, joining UKTV/Virgin to champion branded content from within the commissioning team (which was UKTV’s USP and something Sally fought hard for). Here she put together programming ideas and deals with brands including Waitrose, Young’s Seafood, Amoy, Red Bull, Philadelphia, FindMyPast.co.uk, Toyota and Audible. In 2018 she joined John Keeling and Joanna Reesby at Mission Bay, a headhunting firm who focus on helping clients, who make money from content, find exceptional talent.

Claudia Downes is the Head of Scripted at Indigo Talent. Prior to headhunting she had a diverse career across media working in advertising and PR before running a radio production company for ten years then set up and sold a successful washroom advertising business. Whilst taking some time out to write a book (still unpublished!) a friend introduced her into an Executive Search Company that she joined running their Media business.  A mutual candidate introduced Jude and a meeting of minds and shared values led them to combine forces under Indigo Talent. Hugely passionate about everything drama related and recognising the nuances in this genre, eight years ago she set up and runs their very successful scripted division.

Host, Jude Thompson is the Managing Director of Indigo Talent. She has spent the last fifteen years helping creative talent identify their version of success and planning strategies to help take them there. Extensive experience hiring leadership roles has enabled her to hone in on key behaviours stand out creative leaders have. Starting her career in Fashion, via retail, hospitality and gaming she was lured into the world of headhunting and loved working with people and helping them to flourish in their chose careers. Running a Entertainment Practice for a global Search Company a sliding doors moment presented the opportunity to set up Indigo Talent, specialising in TV and creating a partnership with Claudia. With a commitment to instigating change from disrupting existing hiring practices, through to being a proud Global Ambassador and trustee of Debatemate, underlying is a value system based on ethical practices and a passion for the creative industries.

Event Schedule:

17:55: Please join the webinar waiting room

18:00: Jude to lead discussion

18:45: Attendee Q&A opens

19:00: Finish

How will the online event work?

This event will be live streamed via Zoom.us. Viewing details below.

Attending participants will not be visible to others and will be muted throughout the session. After the talk, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask their questions to the panel by using the Q&A feature.

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