Meet the Team – Sophie Harper

Tell us a little about you

I currently live in Berkshire in the South East of England with my husband, our three children, an elderly cat called Sulley, plus a cheeky jack russell called Perdy!

Whilst always from Berkshire, I have spent some time traveling and at one point spent a few years living across the world in Sydney, Australia! Currently, though you can find me on the outskirts of Reading, renovating an 1890’s property whilst living in it and cursing myself for undergoing such a project with three small humans in the midst of it

Where did your career start and how did it evolve to where you are now?

I certainly have the kind of career we describe as a portfolio career in the industry! I have gathered skills and found my way not so much by having a dedicated plan but by letting myself learn from each of my stages in life.

I always loved photography and after GSCE’s I was awarded early entry to sit my national diploma in photography with a leading art college in the South East. Through my various subjects there I began to learn about photography in advertising and so alongside my education, I became a photographer’s assistant for people doing product and advertising shoots.

From there I grew a real passion for art direction and setting up the photoshoot towards the marketing brief. So recommended by a photography colleague, I went to sit my diploma in Advertising and Brand Management with UC of Creative Arts.

Various jobs throughout my education added to my skill set such as doing administration for the NHS, event planning for shopping malls, and in particular incredible brands like Disney, who gave me the opportunity to learn brand management directly from their UK management team which still inspires me to this day.

During my time in Australia, after completing my degree, I took on a role as a buying assistant, which allowed me to use my brand management skills, art direction, and copywriting to develop my marketing as I helped purchase and market fine jewellery for Australia’s leading live television retailer TVSN.

I then carried on this direction when I returned to the UK and took a similar role for GAME, helping to manage the purchasing and marketing with Nintendo accounts. Sadly I was made redundant in their 2011 fall into administration but this allowed me to enjoy maternity leave with my children.

I was then able to return to work by joining Mumsnet, a leading online parent forum as they ventured into local websites. Over the next few years, I went on to be a local Editor for 4 of their South East UK sites. I learned to really love the flexibility of home working at this point and the freedom it allowed me to combine my family life and professional career without compromise.

My next opportunity was to join the Noble Futures team and I can certainly recommend them! It has been a joy to work with people as passionate about the brand as the brand manager! But the team here is so enthusiastic about what they do and how Noble Futures thrives, that it has been one of the best career choices to date.

What do you enjoy about recruitment?

As someone on the outskirts of physical recruitment, I get to really enjoy all the positives of recruitment without the tough parts! Seeing the consultants passionately support the candidates to find them the careers they dream of and the joy from a candidate when they know they’ve secured that role is priceless.

The Animal related industry is full of some incredible talent and being able to support our clients and candidates by matching up the perfect talent with opportunity is incredibly rewarding.

What do you enjoy about working in the animal-related industries?

So much! Animals and horses have been a huge love of mine since I was a child. It is a running joke in my family that I aspire to disappear off and have a smallholding full of rescue animals and creatures. So working in an industry that allows me to be surrounded by people with the same passions as I do, is fantastic.

What do you look for in a candidate?

Passion and enthusiasm for the industry and the role. Experience can be gained but a genuine love for what you do and the role shines through.

What is the one thing you think every CV should have?

I tend to handle a lot of CVs day-to-day with the team and making sure they load onto our system correctly, so I have seen a lot! My top tips would be:
• A professional or simple email address. Nothing can take the professionalism of an email like [email protected]
• Up to date contact details. A lot of candidates don’t like to put their address on now, but at least knowing your county can mean we can reach out with fantastic roles that are suitable to your location.
• Hobbies and Interests – These add some personality to a CV and I think should never be overlooked.

What is your top career advice?

Find your joy! It is OK to not have a full career plan in place and know where you want to be in 15yrs time.
For me, each role I have taken has been sparked by something I realised I loved in my prior one and I wanted to develop. Find the aspects of your job that you love and continually build on those and you’ll find you have a career you are the perfect fit for!