People Behind the Brand: Callum Ritchie

In today's People Behind the Brand, the series where you get to know the Orbis team, we sat down with Callum Ritchie, Consultant.

We chatted all about being a professional golfer, the Orbis Academy, graduating Summa Cum Laude, the importance of perseverance when things get tough and canoeing down the Zambezi River!

Tell us about your journey to Recruitment… how did you end up here?

I moved to the UK last September from South Africa having just called it quits on trying to make it as a professional golfer. 

I’d gotten a late acceptance from Loughborough University to do a Masters in Sport Management and was frantically trying to organise accommodation etc. I was staying with my younger sister at the time, who’d been working in London for about a year, and she asked me how much longer I was going to avoid getting a job, which stung a bit. 

So, out of interest, I went online and started reading through job ads to see what was out there. I came across the Orbis advert and the job description sounded really interesting so somewhat impulsively, I put in an application. 

The next week I got a call back from Orbis which started with a crazy 24 hours of video calls and interviews that ended with me signing a contract the next day and starting work the following Monday.  I’m a year into it now and to be fair, I haven’t looked back since.

What's the best part of the job?

The people - I’ve made such good friends at Orbis in such a short period, I mean I even live with 2 of them! 

We all do lots outside of work together as well, between going for drinks, playing 5-a-side football and rounds of golf on the weekends. I just feel lucky to work with such a great group of people.

Then there’s also the satisfaction of helping people find success in their careers. I majored in psychology at university and quite quickly understood that I wasn’t as keen on helping people solve their problems, but rather I wanted to help people realise and maximise their potential, and recruitment seems to fulfil that ambition so far.

What's the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is just how much is outside of your control. 

Clients and candidates have decisions to make based on an endless number of factors so you’ve just got to focus on doing your part and ‘controlling the controllables’ while appreciating that even when you do things right, it doesn’t mean they’ll work out how you want them to.

What is something you wish you could tell your younger self?

Not to be scared of failure. 

I think this is something that has held me back at times. I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, and while it can be motivating to hold yourself to a high standard it can also limit you. 

Working in recruitment has helped with this as you deal with rejection daily, so you are forced to learn to appreciate that not everything can go well even when you do everything right. When you start to overcome the fear of failure nothing seems too tough to at least give it a go, which is pretty freeing. 

Ironically, learning this lesson sooner would have helped my chances of making it as a golfer but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Realistically, if you’re successful in everything that you do, then you’re probably not taking enough risks or pushing yourself to achieve your full potential. 

Do you have any nicknames and if so, what is it and why?

Basically, any word that starts with ‘Cal’ - Caldog, Calamari, Calpol, the list goes on...

You have graduated from the Orbis Academy, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

When I joined Orbis, the economy was thriving and the company was focused on exponential growth. Everyone was upbeat, there was a culture of working hard while playing hard and we all couldn’t wait to get going. 

Unfortunately, the economic outlook shifted downwards and suddenly we were confronted with a very different landscape. With that being said, this market is all our academy ever known so it doesn’t actually feel too overwhelming or intimidating. In the long term, I have no doubt that this will serve us well - if you can succeed when times are tough it sets you up well for the future. 

What’s one accomplishment you’re most proud of?

Getting a golf scholarship to go to University in the US. 

Golf was my overriding priority but I’ve always taken academics seriously and I’m proud that I graduated Summa Cum Laude (highest honours) and was awarded the “Elite 20” trophy for top academic student in the NCAA South Atlantic Conference.

You were a professional golfer before joining Orbis and have a huge passion for SportsTech. Do you think there is a correlation between the two and do you think these skills transfer into your approach to work?

Undoubtedly there is a correlation between the two. 

From day one, Orbis has focused on the need for resilience, determination, and mental toughness in the recruitment industry but that was a lesson I had truly learned trying to make it as a pro. I think people underestimate the conviction and self-belief needed to make it in the competitive sports arena, where almost everyone has a similar skill set, but it’s the mental strength that sets you apart. 

When I first joined the Nordics team, my manager, Ryan Brown, explained to me that in this job (and life), ‘logic beats emotion’ and that has stuck with me. I’ve found that it is a powerful tool to deal with the constant setbacks and disappointments that are an inevitable part of the business of recruitment. 

I think that leveraging a personal passion, in my case sport, is an effective tool to forge meaningful, and hopefully productive, relationships with both clients and candidates.

Some people like to swim with sharks, jump out of aeroplanes, or bungee jump. What is the most adventurous thing you’ve done?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to live a very adventurous life thanks to my dad’s career with the UN which has involved moving around quite a bit. 

I’ve bungee jumped at Victoria Falls, run from a rogue buffalo in a game reserve in South Africa while searching for lions, snow-boarded off-piste on the Grande Montee at Argentieres, helped build a school in Thailand’s Golden Triangle and spent the night on the Marrakesh Express to name just a few. 

But without a doubt, the most adventurous thing I’ve done was a canoe trip on the Zambezi River. With herds of hippos all over the place and crocodiles lined up on the banks, we got caught in the rapids and came way too close to capsizing with the guide's only advice for if you ended up in the water being to ‘swim like hell to the bank and then run as fast as you can’. 

Not sure if I’ll be rushing to do that again.

In another life, if you weren’t a recruiter, what would you be doing?

I’ve always been a ‘people person’, fascinated by the human dynamic, which is why I studied psychology. 

I think a career in organisational behaviour and change management might have been a cool option. Otherwise, anything in sports. Maybe some type of strategic role with the European Tour or something else in the golf industry that lets me play golf a few times a week for ‘work’.