Scott Liddle, Group Commercial Director at Acorn Recruitment
Passion key to industry recognition
With entries for the 2018 Leading Wales Awards opening this week, Scott Liddle, Group Commercial Director at Acorn Recruitment, tells us about picking up the “Leadership in the Private Sector” category award in 2016.
I have always been extremely passionate about what I do. Since my first day as a Mechanical Technical Apprentice aged sixteen, to now leading more than 200 people as Group Commercial Director for Acorn, it’s been a journey.
Of course, during this time, it’s easy to let the days, months, even years roll into one, so it wasn’t until I was stood on a stage after winning such a prestigious award that I realised I could be guilty of taking career milestones for granted.
Winning a Leading Wales Award made me stop and actually reflect on what I’d achieved, and I’ll always be grateful for this.
Thinking of going for an industry award of your own? Here’s a few reasons why I think you should…
Recognition…
Whether it’s being nominated, getting a ‘highly commended’ or (of course!) winning reputable awards, this coverage provides excellent recognition for both you as an individual and your company. It clearly demonstrates your abilities, and shows you’re making a defined positive contribution to your industry.
Connections
Whilst entering well-known industry awards will pit you against some pretty fierce competition, it will also provide great opportunities to meet and network with other like-minded, successful people. From my experience, it also connects you with people you may have lost contact with along the way. I was humbled by the amount of people who got in touch after many years to congratulate me on my own award win.
Credibility
I’m a firm believer that industry awards add an additional standard of professionalism to your work – an acknowledgement that your work has been recognised is a valuable thing to hold and only adds to your credibility.
Motivation
I’ve always thought that I’m a particularly self-motivated person – but you can never underestimate how motivating actually winning an award can be. Taking home the trophy from the Leading Wales Awards inspired me and many of my Acorn colleagues to go for gold. I’ve since won the IOD Wales Director of the Year Award for Medium/Large Business of the Year, as well as being named finalist in the IOD UK Director of the Year and Business Leader of the Year at the national IRP Recruitment Awards in 2017. My Acorn colleagues have also had fantastic recognition recently, winning both Recruiter and Permanent Recruiter of the Year at the national IRP Recruitment Awards.
Celebrate teamwork
Just being nominated for these awards – let alone winning – is testament to the great results achieved by Acorn as a whole, so it really did give us as a company a reason to celebrate and reflect on what we’ve all achieved.
You can’t be a leader without a team, and I’m proud to have great people behind me.
Passion
For me, passion is everything.
If you’re passionate and really believe in what you do, you can make a real, positive difference to your company and everyone you work with. I would encourage anyone who can inspire and motivate people through their work to go for gold – enter those awards, and see where it takes you.
Scott Liddle is Group Commercial Director at Acorn, one of the UK’s leading recruitment agencies. With over 38 branches and on-site offices throughout the UK, Acorn’s expert recruitment consultants provide specialist permanent, contract and temporary recruitment services within Aerospace and Defence, Commercial & Office Support, Construction, M & E, Executive Search, Legal, Accountancy & Finance, Life Sciences, Rail, Driving & Logistics, Technical & Engineering, Nuclear, Oil & Gas and Nursing & Healthcare.