Geraldine King is a qualified technician, trainer, and leadership coach and is CEO of the National Recruitment Federation. Geraldine started her career in the electronic industry and during this time she worked for 3 of the major multinationals in various supervisory and senior management roles in the technical, quality and training departments. She spent 7 years with Grafton Recruitment where she managed 3 of their offices on the east coast.
She joined the National Recruitment Federation in 2009 and is responsible for the running of the NRF office and all divisions of the Federation, including all PR & Marketing and internal communications. Since her arrival to the NRF she has been focused on expanding the services of the NRF to members, has introduced the accredited Certificate in Recruitment Practice to the Irish recruitment industry and is committed to developing a full academic career path for recruiters in Ireland. She is currently studying for a Masters in Human Resource Management. Married to Martin they have 2 daughters Nikki and Aimee.
Can leadership be taught? If so, how?
Good leadership is a skill and while some people are natural born leaders others have to learn how to lead. I am a firm believer that you can teach anyone to do anything once they want to learn but as a leader in most cases your job is to inspire and to motivate others to ensure a task/project/job gets done. It takes a certain type of person to make this happen and especially at senior level. Personally I think yes it can be taught but the person will already possess some of the people skills and qualities and just need to be guided.
When you are filling a leadership role in your organisation what qualities do you look for from candidates?
Attitude, tenacity and good people skills. A leader needs to have a good attitude and fully buy into the organisation’s goals and vision and this will filter down through the organisation. They need to be tenacious to make sound decisions and have the ability to build rapport both internally with staff members and externally with clients.
If you had to leave your organisation for 1 year what would you ask of your team and what advice would you give them?
I fully believe in empowering the team and trust them to get on with the job. I would advise to collaborate with each other and try and work out any issues that arise between them. Failing that to contact me or someone else who is in a position to assist them. Most importantly though they understand not to make any decisions unless they are 100% confident it is the right one for them or the organisation.
What are you doing today to make sure your organisation will be relevant in 10 years time?
We consistently review everything from process to systems and update accordingly. The organisation provides learning and development opportunities for all staff to avail of to keep us current and relevant to our jobs and industry. Rapidly changing markets can challenge us occasionally so innovation and embracing new technology is key to keeping us current. We also have to stay vigilant and be very aware of new and existing legislation and be prepared and agile to any changes to stay compliant with the law.
What leaders outside your own organisation do you admire and why?
I admire all leaders who have made themselves successful despite the odds being against them, those that have had to work harder than others to get to where they are.
What are a few resources (books, blogs, podcasts, courses etc) you would recommend to someone looking to gain insight into becoming a better leader?
An American lady called Connie Podesta has a trilogy of books that are humorous yet inspiring for any leader, one that comes to mind is “How to be the person successful companies want to keep”. Mary B Lucas also American has a book called “Lunchmeat and Life lessons” and is a quick and entertaining short read.
