About Us - Consultant Profiles
Our consultants' broader business experience and connections in the marketplace means we can help you build a strong, successful organisation. Learn more about our key personnel...
Margo McLay | Zoe Marti | Paul Edwards
Paul Edwards
Senior Consultant
Arriving at Morgan and Banks in the mid 90s fresh from his accounting position at Deloittes, Paul Edwards very quickly climatised to the “contract recruiting and consulting services world”, placing senior executives singularly or in teams on assignments, and project managing successful client outcomes.
With the marketplace becoming more attuned to executive contractors over permanent recruits, Paul facilitated the growth of his head-hunting division from a team of two, to a team of six, specialising in the accounting, human resources, information technology, engineering and sales categories.
He's been assisting business ever since.
Having given high-level direction to HR departments and with a swag of degrees and an MBA under his belt – and a colourful mix of specializations to match (accounting, business, psychology and HR) – Paul says he is excited by the challenge of working with Executive People to head up its Finance & Business Consulting division where he can put all of his skills to the test.
For the past 8 years Paul's consulting focus has involved the morphing of accounting, sales and marketing, and HR/recruitment expertise successfully carving out his niche in the marketplace.
"Businesses are increasingly competitive. Globalisation, mergers and acquisitions and succession planning is high on the agenda– and this has seen the demand for multi-skilled professionals who are both good operators and who can run a successful practice as well," he says.
While Paul says there was a degree of structural 'breeding' out of sales people in technical roles some 20 years ago, he believes the pendulum then swung too far the other way, with technical people placed in sales roles which created a gap where both technical and business development skills were needed to remain competitive.
"Some organisations want their practitioners to be 'rainmakers' and to be the face of a practice; others want technical operators, many want both skills. It's my job to cater for all types and successfully match people and their areas of expertise, within the right environment and role," he says.
Paul regards a supportive environment as giving people the right tools and resources, and thinking outside of the old way of recruiting and start looking at transferable skills as a way to find rising stars and pivotal employees.
"It's about the style, it's about the culture and the whole tone of the place, and finding people who will be a perfect fit to work there so that they are able to give their best. It's my job is to help to define the capabilities needed to achieve organisational outcomes and then getting the barriers out of the way to identify and then enable people to contribute those capabilities.
For Paul, a successful placement bring him enormous satisfaction because he has played a significant role in a candidate's life choice and assisted them with a real business need - particularly given today's candidate and skills shortage market.
"At the end of day it's about building a trusted reputation and relationship," he says.
On a personal level Paul has sat on boards in the not-for-profit sector and provided mentoring for young people. A devoted family man, Paul is a musician and has a highly musical brood who love performing. His family has also opened their home to young people in need through a government-funded former safe house short-stay program. He is also an accomplished presenter and public speaker.
