20 Years in Recruitment: Emma Moran on Executive & Business Support

After more than 20 years in recruitment, Emma Moran has learned that the most useful thing a recruitment consultant can offer is often an honest opinion.

Not every brief is straightforward. Not every candidate is right for every client. And sometimes what a business thinks it needs at the beginning of a search changes once you start asking the right questions.

As Partner and Managing Consultant at Leaman Consulting, Emma leads the firm's Executive Assistant and Business Support division, specialising in Executive Assistants, Business Assistants, Office Managers, Administration, Operations and HR support.

Her clients range from entrepreneurs and start-ups to established businesses and senior leadership teams across the UK and internationally.

After more than 13 years at Leaman, Emma has developed a deep understanding of the market; but, perhaps more importantly, a clear view of what makes a recruitment process work well.

Knowing when to challenge the brief

A recruitment brief can look perfectly reasonable on paper.

The client knows the title they want, the experience they are looking for and the salary they have in mind.

But recruitment doesn't always work that neatly.

Sometimes the requirements are too broad. Sometimes the expectations don't quite match the market. Sometimes a role has evolved, but the job description hasn't.

And sometimes a client is looking for something that is simply very difficult to find.

This is where experience matters.

Emma believes a recruitment consultant should be prepared to have an honest conversation before beginning a search, even when that means challenging the brief.

That might mean discussing salary expectations, changing the balance of responsibilities, reconsidering the level of experience required or simply explaining what is realistically available in the current market.

It is better to have that conversation at the beginning than to spend weeks searching for something that doesn't exist.

Understanding what sits behind the job title

Executive Assistant can mean very different things depending on the business and the person being supported.

One role might be heavily focused on diary and travel management.

Another might involve complex stakeholder management, project work and acting as a gatekeeper for a CEO.

A founder might need someone comfortable with constant change and very little structure.

A larger organisation may need someone who understands processes, hierarchy and working across multiple teams.

The title alone doesn't tell you enough.

For Emma, understanding the environment is one of the first parts of any search.

• Who is the person being supported?

• How do they work?

• What are their expectations?

• What is the pace of the business?

• What will the individual actually be responsible for?

• And what has worked (or not worked!) previously?

Only once those questions are answered can you properly understand the person you need to find.

What experience tells you that a CV doesn't

CVs are useful. They give you a career history, qualifications, responsibilities and achievements.

But they don't tell you everything.

They don't necessarily tell you how someone behaves under pressure, how they communicate with a demanding executive or whether they genuinely take ownership.

They don't always explain why someone left a role, what their relationship with their previous employer was like, or what environment brings out their best work.

Those conversations matter.

After more than two decades in recruitment, Emma knows that the interview process is about more than checking whether someone has done the same job before.

It is about understanding the person behind the experience.

That applies equally to clients.

A candidate may have an impressive background but be completely wrong for a particular executive.

Equally, someone who doesn't have every requirement on a job description may turn out to be exactly the person a client needs.

Honesty works both ways

Good recruitment depends on both sides being realistic.

Candidates need to be honest about what they are looking for, their experience and the type of environment in which they will thrive.

Clients need to be equally clear about the role, expectations, salary and working environment.

If the hours are demanding, candidates need to know.

If the role is particularly fast-paced, that should be explained.

If there is little room for autonomy, that matters.

If a client expects an EA to take on responsibilities outside a traditional support role, that needs to be discussed from the outset.

Emma's role is not to make a vacancy sound more attractive than it is.

It is to make sure both sides understand what they are agreeing to.

That honesty can sometimes mean telling a client that a candidate isn't right, or telling a candidate that a particular role isn't going to suit them.

It may mean losing an immediate placement.

But it is far more likely to lead to the right outcome in the long term.

The Business Support market is broader than it looks

Business Support is sometimes treated as a straightforward recruitment category.

In reality, it covers a remarkably broad range of roles, environments and levels of seniority.

Emma's division recruits Executive Assistants, Business Assistants, Team Assistants, Office Managers, administrative professionals, Operations and HR support, as well as reception and front-of-house positions.

The clients are equally varied.

A growing entrepreneur may need their first senior EA.

An established company may be replacing a long-standing member of its support team.

A family office may need someone who can operate with complete discretion.

A senior executive may be looking for a highly experienced assistant who can manage significant responsibility with minimal supervision.

Each requires a different approach.

That is why market knowledge matters.

Seeing the whole picture

One of the advantages of having spent many years in recruitment is being able to see patterns.

Emma has seen how expectations around Business Support have changed, how salaries have moved, what candidates are prioritising and how different types of businesses approach hiring.

She also understands that there isn't always a simple answer.

The strongest candidate on the market isn't necessarily the right candidate for a particular client.

The highest salary doesn't automatically attract the best person.

And adding more requirements to a job description doesn't necessarily improve the shortlist.

Sometimes the best recruitment advice is to simplify things.

Why the consultant matters

Technology has made it easier than ever to advertise a vacancy, search databases and put a long list of candidates in front of a client.

It has not necessarily made recruitment easier.

For senior Business Support roles, judgement still matters.

• Which candidates are genuinely worth meeting?

• Who is likely to stay?

• Who has the right experience but the wrong personality for the environment?

• Who looks less obvious on paper but could be excellent?

• Is the salary realistic?

• Is the job description actually describing the role?

• And when should you tell a client to rethink something?

These are the decisions that sit behind a good shortlist.

They are also the areas where experience becomes valuable.

Emma's approach to recruitment

Emma has been with Leaman Consulting for more than 13 years, building long-standing relationships with both clients and candidates.

Her approach is straightforward: understand the requirement properly, be honest about the market and make considered introductions.

That means listening carefully to what a client says they need, but also asking questions about what they may not have considered.

It means understanding a candidate's ambitions rather than simply looking at whether they tick every box.

And it means being prepared to say when something doesn't look right.

For Emma, that is an important part of being a consultant rather than simply a recruiter.

What makes a good Business Support appointment?

There is no single answer.

The right person depends on the executive, the business, the culture and the responsibilities of the role.

But the appointments that work well tend to have one thing in common: both sides understood what they were getting into.

The client understood the candidate.

The candidate understood the role.

Expectations were clear.

And there was enough trust on both sides to make the relationship work.

That may sound simple.

In practice, it takes experience to get right.

Looking for Business Support expertise?

Emma Moran leads Leaman Consulting's Business Support division, specialising in Executive Assistant, Business Assistant, Office Management, Administration, Operations and HR recruitment.

With more than 20 years' recruitment experience and over 13 years at Leaman Consulting, Emma works with clients and candidates across the UK and internationally.

Whether you are considering your first Executive Assistant hire, replacing an established member of your team or looking for specialist Business Support recruitment advice, Emma can provide an informed view of the market and the realities of the search.

Speak to Emma Moran about your Business Support recruitment requirements.