Head of China Desk - St James, Berkeley Group

Who is the company?

St James was established in 1996, originally as a joint venture with Thames Water. Over the past 20 years, the company has established a reputation as a design-conscious developer regenerating brownfield sites and transforming them into attractive developments whose design not only creates desirable places to live, but also has a positive impact on the environment.

St James is a proud member of The Berkeley Group, a UK leader in the visionary delivery of major urban regeneration schemes. The Group has been responsible for shaping much of the modern development along central London's riverside, replacing former industrial areas with vibrant places to live, work and play.

What was the situation?

Georgia Zambakides, Manager of New Homes at deverellsmith, used her extensive talent partner experience to identify a gap in St James’s sales team.

The Berkeley Group has several China desk operatives which work across the group; however, St James was yet to solely have an individual to manage Chinese leads and sales. After advising the hiring team, Georgia worked in partnership with St James to source the right person to launch the desk and ultimately increase revenue.

What was the methodology?

Georgia identified a small pool of candidates that reflected the company values as well as have enough senior leadership experience to essentially drive a new business. Berkeley Group is arguably the leading housebuilder in the London market, with exceptionally high standards and is positioned as a premium brand – the best of the best needed to be put forward for the role.

The profiled candidate required confidence and an extensive network in Asia with good knowledge of London, as well as experience in team management.

Utilising deverellsmith’s active database and Georgia’s network, she was able to source the right person and facilitate the transition with ease for the client and candidate. Georgia was able to identify who would add value to the business – after working closely with St James for several years – and screened candidates to save the hiring team time.

The entire process took around 5 months, which included analysis, interviews and notice period.

What was the outcome?

The candidate has now launched the China desk successfully and is pushing Chinese sales forward across St James projects. The client is highly satisfied that Georgia was able to expertly advise and continues to remain in partnership with Georgia, deverellsmith and the New Homes team.

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