14 October 2024
We are delighted to have Paul Horgan join Anderson Quigley as a Partner, where he will be leading and developing our interim management offering for schools, academies and further education colleges. Paul is a skilled interim recruiter with nearly 20 years’ experience recruiting to executive and senior management positions within the education sector, most notably in the schools and academies arenas, but also in further and higher education.
As part of Paul’s onboarding process, we caught up with him to ask a few questions about his background and future plans.
What is your background?
I started my senior leadership recruitment career with a small boutique firm supporting schools and academies with the appointment of interim senior leaders before joining my last organisation, where I originally worked with John Laycock; I’m delighted to be reunited with John as he was a very supportive manager for over eight years. I have subsequently extended my recruitment portfolio by increasing my support to the education sector, helping higher education and further education institutions source senior talent.
What will your focus be at AQ?
My focus is going to be around supporting schools, academies, multi-academy trusts, independent schools and further education institutions. I’ll be complementing the work of Hayley Mintern and Paul Aristides on the search side, providing interim management solutions.
I have experience of appointing to a wide variety of different interim roles, so I can support institutions both on the academic side and professional services side, whether that be Headteachers, Deputy Heads, CEOs, Regional Education Directors, or Directors and Heads for professional services such as HR, finance, and estates.
How do you feel interim recruitment can support the FE and schools sectors?
The are many challenges facing schools and further education colleges. Some of these challenges are more short and medium term. Therefore, interim management support can be a great investment for institutions to provide very skilled, experienced and dedicated individuals to tackle issues such as underperformance, an appropriate response to a poor Ofsted judgement, or simply to fill a senior role and keep things ticking over smoothly while an organisation goes to market for a substantive senior post.
I’ve helped some institutions that have had a temporary lack of capacity within the senior leadership team, so they’ve required some immediate support to deal with this issue. Sometimes a new Head or CEO will require some guidance during their onboarding phase so an experienced interim/consultant can add great value in these situations. Seasoned interim professionals can make a real difference from the initial weeks of their engagement, ensuring the right foundations are in place for current or future leaders once they have moved on.
What inspired you to join AQ?
It was a natural time to move, as I had been in my previous firm for 15 years. I’d always stayed really close to old colleagues who worked for AQ. I particularly stayed connected with John, so I always heard about how the team at AQ was growing, as well as updates regarding some of the fantastic people who were joining, and this really made me reflect and think about whether I wanted to be part of that team too!
I could see the fantastic work Hayley Mintern was doing building up a strong schools practice, and with Paul Aristides joining to support the further education and skills side, it felt like the right time to join them both to develop the interim offering, nurture the connections in the sectors, and grow both areas even further. From speaking to them as part of the process, I could see they were going to be a great pair to work with, and everyone else I came into contact with at AQ had the same feel and collaborative approach and were open to new ideas and innovating, so it made me want to be part of the AQ team.
I could also see the potential to develop personally, as the support AQ provides the education sector is second to none – being able to tap into those networks that the AQ team has will further increase my understanding of the sector and the value I can add to it.
AQ is a trusted provider of interim management solutions to the education sector. We have several partnerships with leading bodies within the sector, we have the relationships and connections, and we know how to provide a first-class service. If you’re interested to hear how Paul can support you as either a client or candidate, please do get in touch at paul.horgan@andersonquigley.com.
