We sat down with Andrew Harvey to discuss his background in marketing and communications and how that enabled his successful career in recruitment, ultimately taking him to the very top position of CEO at VMA GROUP. 

Andrew studied Business at Bournemouth University, which sparked his interest in marketing and communications. After graduation, he worked as a Marketing and Communications Executive within the financial sector. While he enjoyed his role, he decided he wanted to take on new challenges, develop commercial relationships with clients and run a successful business. Five years later, Andrew took the opportunity to become a Marketing and Communications Recruitment Consultant. With a deep understanding of the discipline, he excelled at his new role, and eventually started on the path to develop his career as a manager, director and ultimately a CEO.

Why did you move into recruitment, and why VMA GROUP in particular?

A lot of people working in communications and marketing talk about becoming CEOs one day, but not a lot of them are able to achieve that. In my experience, when you’re working in marketing and communications, you are often in a support role to the leaders of the business. After five years, I no longer wanted to just support the leaders – I wanted to be a business leader myself. Moving into recruitment has given me this opportunity.

For me, VMA GROUP is the frontrunner in the communications recruitment market. It had the heritage, strong brand recognition and respect from people in the industry. Now 43 years on, VMA GROUP still remains a leader in the field. 

How did your experience in communications and marketing help you to prepare for your role in recruitment?

My background in communications and marketing gave me an instant understanding of the roles that I would be recruiting for. When a client briefed me on a specific role, even before discussing the job description, I already knew the skills that may be required for the job. That gave me