Get to know our consultants! Third up is Kelly, who heads up our Investment and Advice desk. Read Chloe‘s profile.

Who are you and what do you cover?

Hi, my name is Kelly Biggar, and I’m Head of the Investment and Advice desk here at Fram Search, along with my partner in crime Mia Holder. We cover a diverse range of roles at different levels of knowledge and experience. The majority of the roles we work on are qualified Investment Managers, Financial Advisors, and Private bankers, as well as the research and administration individuals that support them. However, we also cover senior roles and as an example recently placed a Head of Financial Planner and we also have experience of team moves within investment management.

What types of clients do you work with?

I work with a vast range of clients, from small boutiques to large internationals. Our clients are mainly Wealth Managers, Discretionary Fund Managers, Financial Planning firms, Investment Managers and Private Banks. However, we have also worked with Accountancy and Law firms with in-house advice teams, along with Mortgage, Insurance and Employee Benefits companies.

Over the years I have taken great pride in building the Investment and Advice desk on good old fashioned relationship management and customer service values. We have some outstanding client relationships that span over many years of working together and understanding the needs of our clients. No two clients are the same, their proposition or advice may be similar, but their values and culture can be very different, and we make great effort to understand this in order to recruit the right candidates.

What about candidates?

Like any industry, over the years recruitment has had its fair share of bad press. However, we have a strong set of core values here at Fram Search, which I think candidates struggle to find elsewhere. We want to build long term relationships with people, get to know them, see their personality, and find out what they want from a job and life in general. Let’s face it, next to our family we spend most of our time with our colleagues, so it is my job, and the team here at Fram, to make sure we take the time to get to know our candidates as individual, so we can find them the right job, in the right company.

How long have you been with Fram?

I am the longest serving member of the Fram team, and will have been here 5yr at the beginning of March. My background is in sales/customer service, and I met Simon (our Managing Director) in a previous career. He introduced me to the world of recruitment and financial services, and I am pleased to say I love it.

What do you enjoy about working at Fram?

Recruitment is a hard and challenging industry, but it is never boring. You get to meet some very interesting and sometimes quirky individuals. You are constantly learning and having to adapting to different people, different situations, trends in the market, current affairs and how they affect the industry you recruit for, as well as keeping up to date with new regulations and qualifications. However, all that aside, it is also a very rewarding job, and the team here at Fram are some of the best people I have ever worked with. I know it is a cliché, but we are like a family, it is a supportive, respectful and encouraging environment.

What do you do outside work?

I have a 10 year old son, so like most parents my evenings/weekends revolve around him. So between after school clubs, football, tennis, and moaning at him to get off the PlayStation and do his homework, there is not much time for anything else. So when I do get those moments, I like going for long walks with my husband Mark and our Jack Russell Carys, reading crime thrillers and going on fun packed holidays!

The question we can’t ignore, what are your clients saying about Brexit?

To be honest, it does not seem to be affecting my desk at all. We have had an exceptionally busy year so far, and our clients’ appetite to hire does not seem to be slowing down. I do know some larger institutions have decided to move their London offices, but the effect has not been negative. Smaller to medium sized companies seem to be growing at an exceptional rate, so the companies maybe moving on but the clients are staying and finding new homes. So long may it continue.