I’m Nicky, the owner of ‘Solely HR’. At the age of 21, I started my HR career. As a fresh graduate with a psychology based degree, I didn’t have a clear view on my career path! For those that knew me, I was described as a ‘people person’, so a local recruitment agency snapped me up suggesting I explore a career in ‘Personnel’ as it was fondly known back in 1997. Starting as a HR Administrator for a well known Insurance Company, this provided me with the solid foundations to kick start my HR career as they enrolled me on the CIPD and I achieved level 7 status.

In 1999 I joined a national telecoms company which was expanding in the Southwest of England. Progressing up the HR ranks, I was pivotal to growing the HR team and rolling out new HR processes and employee engagement activities, it was great experience.

In 2001, I fast tracked to being a HR Manager in a new manufacturing start up where the growth was exponential, moving from 8 to 200 employees in 18 months!

So, for the next 21 years I remained in various in house HRM roles managing my own HR teams as well as overseeing Payroll, OH, L&D and even EHS. During this time. I also spent 8 years on the other side of the fence, working for a successful recruitment organisation in Plymouth. Whilst for many years I’d been ‘the client’ to various Recruitment agencies, working within the industry gave me a greater insight into the recruitment world.