“A creative role in an innovative company with an amazing culture.”
Sarah Weller’s career has taken her from Marketing Manager to Managing Director of Mobile Consultancy and App Development firm Mubaloo, in just nine years. Her rapid rise has also seen her shortlisted for a First Women Award in the category of Science and Technology leader 2017 and listed in the Drum’s ‘UK’s Top 50 digital women under 30, 2014’, and ‘Mobile Entertainment’s 30 under 30, 2014’.
Sarah took some time out to chat with us about why she was looking for a new role and how Adam helped her work out what she wanted from her next position and find the perfect role.
Time for a new challenge
Sarah spent six years at Mubaloo, the majority of which were as Managing Director. The company was acquired last January by a large media company and Sarah had decided to look for a new challenge earlier this year but didn’t know exactly what sort of role she was looking for. Sarah met with Leon Milns, (Adam Founder) to help her work out what she wanted to do next.
“I handed my notice in without a clue of what I wanted to do next” said Sarah, “but I definitely needed some time out. I didn’t really know what sort of role I was looking for and that’s why Leon was so amazing. I spent time talking to him about what I was interested in he really helped me picture what I wanted out of my working life in terms of the things that suit me, and what I enjoy or have fun doing. He really understood that I wanted, a creative role that’s different to what I did previously. He’s such a good listener. He asked me lots of questions and really listened to what I said. He really wanted to explore what I wanted from my next role. But also, he came back with suggestions and talked them through with me.”
But the role we found came as a surprise
“I wasn’t expecting what he actually came back to me with. When I saw the role I was like, ‘What is this?’ Thinking, ‘I haven’t done anything like that before’. But actually, the more Leon spoke to me about it and explained what the role would require, it was very clear that it was exactly what I wanted to do next!”
Sarah’s new role is at innovation company ?WhatIf!, an agency with offices in London, Shanghai, New York and San Francisco. But it was the company culture and creativity of the role which really excited Sarah.
“Helping clients innovate is exactly what I enjoy doing. My brief to Leon was to find a role that would enable me to ‘work closely with clients to help them come up with ideas’. This role is exactly that and comprises all of the things I talked about wanting to do. I just hadn’t pieced it together into this kind of role until he put it in front of me. I read the job specification and then thought, ‘actually it sounds perfect’.
There are so many things that excited me about the role and the company. The creativity, the ability to work with different businesses and different perspectives, the fact that ?WhatIf! is such an incredible company. The people and the culture, everyone I have met so far have just been amazing. The European CEO is very inspiring. I love the people, I love the culture, I love the office and the general feel of the place.
?WhatIf!’s values are brilliant. They come down to two words ‘love’ and ‘adventure’. Everyone is so warm, they came over just to say ‘Hi’ when I went in for my interview… they are so lovely and intelligent. And the European CEO is so amazing. We had a glass of wine together and talked about the role… I just know it’s the kind of culture I want to work for.”
From interviewer to interviewee
Sarah had been on the hiring side of interviews for most of her career and felt out of practice when it came to being interviewed herself.
“Leon was so supportive. Before I went to meet ?WhatIf! he called me and walked me through the whole process, and he messaged me to say, ‘Good luck’. Afterwards he talked me through the next steps. I really needed that as I haven’t been through an interview process in ten years. I’ve been doing the interviews rather than being the one interviewed! It had been such a long time, but Leon was so encouraging. He was always there. Even when he went on holiday, he would chat to me to see how I was getting on which was brilliant. I massively appreciated it. He’s such a nice guy as well.
The whole process probably happened in the space of three weeks. It was really quick. Leon got me in straight away and then, the next week for the second interview which involved a case study. The following week I met the European CEO, and then I had an offer out to me in a few days. It was a pretty quick process. That is mainly down to Leon as I knew he was always ‘on it’, he always kept in touch while I was waiting to hear back. That’s another reason why I liked ?WhatIf! so much too… how quickly they get back to people: it’s a good way of understanding their culture. They take recruitment so seriously and have respect for candidates. It shows that they’re committed, which I really respect.”
If you’re at a fork in the road in your career and need support finding the right role, contact the team at Adam on 0161 359 3789 or by emailing hello@weareadam.com.
