Testimonials
" I have known Gary Jones and Laura McNair for many years both as a candidate and as a client. They have sourced some excellent candidates, know what differentiates our firm brand in the market and are a real pleasure to work with".
Simon Luckett – Global HR Director at Withers LLP
“It has been a real pleasure dealing with Laura, Rebecca and Gary at Totum Partners. After 11 years working for my previous employer, they were conscious right from the start that this was a huge change for me, both professionally, in terms of a change in direction back into a law firm, and personally, as my new role has demanded a family relocation. They were genuinely interested in the best outcome for me and provided a professional, yet down-to-earth, approach throughout the whole process. Thank you!”
Jamie Butler, Head of Training & Development, Russell-Cooke
“I have worked with Roisin as a candidate on several occasions and I have found her to be a very engaged and committed recruiter. Roisin made sure that I was fully briefed before I attended interviews so that I was able to prepare appropriately and she took the time to find out the answers to any questions that I had about the roles. I appreciated her regular communication throughout the recruitment process and would be keen to work with her again in the future.”
HR Officer, Candidate
“My experience of working with Totum Partners has been excellent on a number of levels. As a candidate interested in a role they were handling, from our very first email exchange and phone call I noted that they were consummate professionals and probably the best experience I have had of a Recruitment Consultancy. As we moved through the engagement, their professionalism was maintained, I always found them to be responsive, open and honest in all of our communications. Not only that, they were very helpful and supportive too and made me feel valued.
The foregoing is also true from a client perspective. I have engaged Totum Partners for a challenging candidate search and they found me a great candidate that we have successfully secured. Their knowledge and experience of the legal market is first class. What makes Totum the best? Their people - committed and motivated to succeed and nice with it.”
Janet Naylor, Director of Human Resources, Appleby
“I’m delighted with how it all went (no surprise there based on previous very positive experiences with your team). The search brief I gave was really clearly understood and followed and all the CVs well filtered and on point. Liz was super responsive and efficient and a pleasure to deal with.”
Catherine McGonnagle – Client Director, Ropes & Gray
"I would highly recommend Elizabeth Fletcher at Totum Partners following the help she gave me in securing my new job. Throughout the process, I always felt I could be entirely open with Liz in what I was searching for and in return received honest and insightful guidance, something which I have rarely encountered when using other recruiters. I am very grateful to Liz and Totum Partners for understanding my needs and finding a role that is perfect for me."
PR Executive, Candidate
"In the last six months I was approached by a number of firms regarding various roles but this was the only one that matched my criteria and the package was at the right level.
There were a number of things that set Totum Partners, and in particular Gary Jones, apart from other organisations/individuals I came across during my search for new opportunities. In particular:
1. In-depth understanding of the industry and key players;
2. Willingness to truly listen and understand what I was looking for; and
3. Only approached me when they had an opportunity that matched all my criteria and my skill set met the requirements of their client
During the interview process I received insightful feedback on the individuals involved in the interviews and Gary kept me up to date (and I assume his client) with developments. Package negotiations went very smoothly with no nasty surprises. I am sure this was partly down to Gary's understanding at the outset of what I was looking for, what was negotiable and what was not and then communicating this to his client. I have since recommended Gary Jones to a number of colleagues who are exploring the market"
Joanna Theodosiadou - UK Director of Finance, Stephenson Harwood LLP
Working with both Liz and Laura has been great. They were both very helpful and supportive. Working with Totum has been very efficient. The briefings I had before interviews were very useful and the communication after interviews was also excellent. Since staring my new role, both Liz and Laura have been very interested in how I have been getting on and have taken the time to meet up with me which I really appreciated. Totum has been brilliant to work with.
Khatidja Janmohamed - Junior Marketing & Communications Manager, Latham & Watkins
“I have worked with Tim and Rebecca for many years and have always considered them to be absolutely outstanding recruitment consultants. They provided significant support to me as Head of BD & Comms, benchmarking team salaries and helping recruit the very best candidates. As a candidate myself, they have provided me with a very thorough written brief of each role. They have also proved numerous times that they care more about ensuring the role is right for the candidate, rather than their own commission, and provide fantastic advice.”
Caroline Sumnall – Head of European Marketing
"Totum offered me far more opportunities than any of the other recruiters I worked with, and when alerted to the same roles by different recruiters, Totum were always quicker to do so than anyone else. That tells me they know the legal industry, and the people who make the recruiting decisions within it. They also gave me candid advice throughout my search, and when the right opportunity came along they did everything they could to help me secure it. I cannot recommend Rebecca and her team highly enough, they are all thoroughly nice people to deal with."
Rohit Grover - PR & Communications Manager, Herbert Smith
"I had met with a few recruitment agencies during my job hunt before meeting Gary at Totum and was feeling fairly jaded by the process. My experience with Totum was very different to other agencies. Gary took time to chat through roles, provided honest feedback and showed real insight into individual firm cultures. It has been a pleasure working with them."
Audrey Holden - Events Manager, Capsticks
"Totum aren't your usual recruiters, they were dedicated and passionate in finding the right job for me. They really listened and understood what I was looking for, I felt in safe hands throughout my job search. Totum gave me extremely helpful advice on how to improve my CV and was very supportive before and after my job interviews offering constructive advice and input. And within less than 3 weeks I found my perfect job! I would highly recommend Totum should you be looking for a new job in the legal sector. I was impressed by the quality of jobs I was presented with and by the professionalism of the team at Totum. Thank you.”
Pauline Rottstock, Marketing Manager Candidate
“I have worked with Tim as a candidate and as a client, and from both sides they offer a seamless and very high quality service. They provide a personal touch and ensure that they have a full understanding of the requirements of the role which is being recruited. They provided us with high calibre candidates who understood our organisation, which made it very easy for us to find a suitable person for an important role quickly and with a minimum of fuss. It’s fantastic to see that in its new guise, Totum Partners continues to deliver an excellent and personal service, which I would be delighted to recommend to anyone”.
Toby Craig – Head of Communications, The Bar Council, following the recruitment of a Communications Manager.
“Totum are a truly dedicated and professional recruitment team. Gary and his colleagues are outstanding, supportive, communicative and highly dedicated to both their candidates and clients. I would highly recommend them”.
Corinne Bennett, HR Director candidate who is joining the legal sector April 2012
“From the moment that Debbie contacted me in response to my enquiry I felt that she understood my position, my experience and I what I hoped to achieve in moving. She channelled my thoughts in the right direction and I was confident that if the perfect position was available for me Debbie would identify it. And that is exactly what she did! Rather than just putting me forward for any vaguely similar role Debbie was positive that the ideal position would come along in time. Throughout the interim period she maintained regular contact appraising me of the situation and discussing the marketplace.
During the interview process both Debbie and Gary were extremely supportive and provided sound advice. Nothing was ever too much trouble. Debbie is a fantastic person. She is professional, listens to the candidate and provides honest and realistic advice. This attitude is indicative of Totum. The entire team at Totum are first class!”
Sara Lloyd – Group Risk Manager, Law South
"I had an urgent need for a very high calibre and senior business development professional to lead the BD support team of the firm's largest practice. I took a risk, and rather than use one of the firm's usual search agencies, appointed Tim and Debbie to find me someone. They did not disappoint - producing an excellent short list of candidates from which we chose who we believe to be one of the very best professionals in the market. The service Tim and Debbie provided was efficient, commercial and straightforward - I would have no hesitation in recommending Tim, Debbie and the team."
Matthew Fuller - Global Head of Business Development, Herbert Smith LLP
"The assignment was not simple: to search for a mid-level, high-potential legal marketeer to take over marketing and BD activities in our Rome office. Moreover, to make it even more complex is the fact that legal marketing is a relatively new field in Italy, thus scarcity of experienced people puts an extra challenge. Tim promptly delivered in a creative and somehow surprising way: they were able to identify a US-based candidate, perfectly bilingual with exactly the experience and potential we were looking for and - above all - eager to relocate. Then the search process: it has been managed in a very professional way with clear reporting and prompt updates."
Allen & Overy, Rome, following the recruitment of a BD Manager
"I found the prospect of moving abroad for a job opportunity extremely daunting, but Rebecca made the whole process a much more calm affair! From initial introductions, through to the interviews and a painstaking wait for the final decision, Rebecca showed professionalism, empathy and most of all patience with me!
She helped me achieve a life changing opportunity and I won't hesitate to use them again both as a candidate and as a client."
James Grandage - Marketing Technology Manager, Maples & Calder, Cayman
“It has been my absolute pleasure dealing with Totum Partners. They are superb consultants with passion and flair and a real interest in what I, as a candidate, was looking for in terms of making my next career move. They spent a significant amount of time with me, making me aware of numerous roles, giving me specialist advice and coaching me through each step of the interview process. They took a real interest in what was best for me – a rare quality in the recruitment industry in my experience. Should I ever find myself looking for a recruitment consultant again, I know who I will turn to. I cannot recommend them highly enough.”
Lyndsay Byres, Candidate
"At Burges Salmon, we were delighted to have worked with Gary Jones and Debbie Gray in recruiting our new HR Director. They not only gave us a good summary of candidates' experience, but they also fully understood the nature of the role we were seeking to fill, providing clear advice which added real value to us in our decision-making – and all that with humour and a light touch which made Gary and Debbie a pleasure to deal with."
Helen Scott-Lawler - Partner, Burges Salmon
"A good recruitment agency is defined as much by what it doesn't do as by it what it does do. It doesn't inundate you with CVs, it doesn't simply summarise the candidate's career history in their covering note without adding insight, and it doesn't waste your time by sending along candidates who, despite a respectable CV, are clearly not right for the job or the firm. Amazingly, very few recruitment agencies seem to pass this simple test. Recruitment takes an enormous amount of my time, so I only want to work with firms that really understand our needs and ensure that candidates are the right calibre and fit with our team. Their candidate assessments knock spots off those provided by even their best competitors. I like their people and find them straight talking and helpful."
Serena Simmons, Director of Business Development, Lovells
“Totum are unique amongst recruiters. From all the recruitment advisors I have dealt with in the past they have been the most dedicated, experienced and honest of them all. In my opinion they worked extremely hard to find me my perfect role within a fantastic firm. They took the time to find out exactly what type of organisation and role would be right for me and gave me invaluable advice and guidance which I had not had from other recruitment advisors. I would not hesitate in recommending Totum to anyone looking for their next move within the legal industry.”
Priya Mistry - BD Executive, Mayer Brown
"They took on this assignment with enthusiasm and were comfortable advising us on it from the start, armed with valuable previous experience. Following a Sunday Times advert, they screened applicants and put forward a very strong shortlist, which ultimately yielded three new joiners. Gary Jones and Deborah Gray worked together well as a team, providing us with a highly responsive service.
To find three people of the right calibre for such a role is far from easy and we are grateful to them for their skill, dedication and experience during the process, as well as their good humour."
Jonathan Bond, Director of HR & Learning, Pinsent Masons LLP, following the recruitment of three Business Managers
"As a firm we always try to be one step ahead in how we manage the delivery of our services to our clients. Crucial to that is how we internally manage our core Practice Groups. When we identified a need for high level business support to these Groups, we turned to Tim and his team who, like us, have kept one step ahead of their competition. Each time we have used them, they have presented us with a number of very credible options and delivered the quality of candidate we have needed for these senior management positions often working to very specific briefs. More than that though they have been a pleasure to deal with: responsive, professional, sensible and most of all, highly effective in finding these pivotal individuals for our business."
Michael Silver, National Recruitment Manager, DLA Piper UK LLP, following the recruitment of two Business Managers
"We initially used them because they listened to what we wanted, thoroughly researched and profiled each candidate and gave us a balanced and informative opinion based on more than just the CV. The more we have worked with them, the more they have demonstrated an ability to consistently perform at the highest level. They are a first class outfit and a very likeable bunch of people."
Mayer Brown, reflecting on Gary, Debbie and Tim's work in recruiting a number of people for their marketing team
"Debbie, Gary and Tim really do take time to understand what I am looking for, understand how we work and make good judgments about who would work well within our team and our business."
Gillian Sutherland, Business Development Partner, Davis Langdon
"Kennedys used Tim Skipper and Gary Jones for the appointment of its HR Director. They impressed from the outset at their pitch with their interest, enthusiasm and obvious knowledge of the market place. From that moment they handled the assignment impeccably. They produced a quality long list, from which we interviewed 6 excellent candidates. We duly appointed within the time-frame and budget agreed. The candidates all remarked on the effectiveness and smooth running of the campaign; we too were kept informed and provided with all the supporting materials we requested. All in all it was a thoroughly professional and pleasurable experience. We would certainly use them again and have already recommended them to another law firm."
Guy Stobart – Chief Executive, Kennedys
"After a long and fruitless executive search, Debbie and Gary took on what had been described as a near-impossible task and within a few weeks had found the right candidate for the role. They are responsive, creative and, ultimately most importantly, know their market."
Taylor Wessing, following the recruitment of their Head of HR
"I enjoyed working with Tim Skipper immensely. We were looking for a consultant that really understood our business, could demonstrate a sound knowledge of the market and would be a strong ambassador for us when representing the opportunity we had. Tim met our expectations and we have been able to recruit a fantastic candidate for our role. Throughout our process, Tim was completely on the ball and gave very honest, practical advice - something that I valued greatly. We will work with Tim again and look forward to continuing the relationship."
HR Director, Brodies
"I asked Gary and Debbie to assist me in recruiting a Director of Human Resources and a Director of Marketing. They were very helpful not only in finding good recruits but in helping me prepare job descriptions and articulate what I was looking for in a way that would be attractive to high calibre candidates in the market place. I found their approach professional, knowledgeable and user friendly and would highly recommend them to others"
Alison Morley, Managing Director, Capsticks
“After sending my CV to Totum , I was amazed at the speed that the whole recruitment process moved. Totum were able to facilitate interviews suited to my skills very quickly and took the time to understand exactly what I was looking for in my next role. Totum are honest, personable and inspirational who have a knack for understanding an individual's situation, they also ensure their clients receive an excellent service, before, during and after interviews and offers great results. I would fully recommend Totum as a recruitment consultant. “
Sheena Shah, Business Development Executive, Clyde & Co
"I wanted to write to formally thank you and Debbie for all of your work in assisting us with the recruitment of a Chief Operating Officer. All of those involved at Harbottle & Lewis have been very impressed with the service you have provided and we feel sure that your assistance is a key element in us having successfully recruited."
Neil Adleman, Partner, Harbottle & Lewis, following the recruitment of their first Chief Operating Officer
"Bates Wells and Braithwaite employed Tim to help us in the search for our first Partnership Executive Officer. I am very glad we did so. They helped us produce a focused job description and then handled the sifting of the 120 applicants down to a manageable shortlist from which we had 3 good candidates with the result that we were able to offer the job and make an appointment all within our timescale. I have no doubt that without Tim’s role we would not have achieved this result. They were throughout very professional, supportive and efficient."
Bates Wells and Braithwaite, following the recruitment of their first Chief Operating Officer
“Coming from outside of the sector I was looking to work with a specialist firm that could provide insight and in depth knowledge about the industry. Rebecca delivered on both counts and worked with me to help understand the roles available and where my skills and experience fitted into the mix. In contrast to some of the other recruiters I spoke to Rebecca saw my non traditional background as an asset. Ultimately the professionalism, advice, guidance and persistence of Rebecca helped secure an offer with a Magic Circle firm.”
Candidate
Deborah - I just wanted to express my thanks to you for your assistance, guidance, integrity and professionalism during the interview process for the role at B&M. It is not often that I have come across such a combination of qualities in one recruitment consultant. You must not change your approach nor change your attitude to the job - I was always left with the feeling that you actually cared about the next step in my career and not just about the dollars. Thank you for everything.
Newly appointed Global Head of Client Development, Baker & McKenzie
“I have recently secured a new role through Tim and Rebecca, and have been very pleasantly surprised by the standard of service, openness and professionalism I have experienced.
Following my initial meeting with Tim Skipper, I felt that Tim really considered my skill set, my future aspirations and my values and approach – I didn’t feel like I was just a potential commission to be earned.
Subsequently, Tim put me in contact with Rebecca Ellis who was dealing with a particular role which Tim felt might be a good fit.
Throughout the interview process, I found Rebecca honest, helpful, responsive and accessible. Working in HR – I am acutely aware that this is not a given in a recruitment consultant!
I should also point out that I don’t currently have a legal background, and appreciate that this is often highly desired by law firms when recruiting HR roles. Both Tim and Rebecca were able to help me articulate my skills successfully, and also persuaded their client to think more broadly.
I would be more than happy to recommend them. I can see from both sides of the relationship that they have a refreshing approach to recruitment.”
Sarah Tucker – HR Business Partner, Olswang
"Tim and his team are the only straight-talking recruiters in town and my first port of call if I need advice or am seeking new opportunities. There is no 'sales-talk' and their reach is impressive, not only in the UK but also internationally. I wanted to move back to Asia and Tim helped make that goal a reality in record time."
Josephine Wagner Poedenphant - Baker & McKenzie – Singapore
