Who is Paul Rayner, the CEO of Oakstone International?

When you interview Company CEOs, you usually find most have been to University, got a degree, and knew from an early age what they wanted to do and how they would develop their careers.

Not so.  Paul Rayner left school at 17 and spent the first five years of his working life working on Dairy farms and attending Agricultural College.  Having felt that, for a variety of reasons, farming was not for him for the long-term, he worked in a pub for 2 years, followed by a sales job in a cut-throat market selling office equipment, knocking on doors in Central London, on a commission-only basis.

So how did that help him get to where he is today as head of a very successful International recruitment business?

There is no doubt that working in the pub business gave him a grounding in accounts, VAT and inventory, but, more importantly, the interaction with people in both the hospitality and sales environment expanded his wide experience and understanding of people and how to handle a range of ages, cultures and backgrounds.

This experience with people and his natural empathetic manner meant that, although he probably didn’t recognise it at the time, this high propensity to EQ rather than IQ has been a hallmark of his successful progress in business life.

He has recruited his people for their values, trained them in recruitment and helped them become the people they are today.

He is the father figure, encouraging and shepherding his flock, helping them with any problems, business or personal, but above all, they know he is the head of the firm.  His overriding aim to nurture talent is borne out by his drive for a continuous training regime built on collaboration and teamwork, which I intend to return to in future blogs.

His strong ethos for collaboration has been tested in the virtual world we are living in at present due to the worldwide pandemic, but with good foundations based on Agility, Learning Resilience and Foresight, many of the issues and challenges have been overcome.

When asked about working from home, Paul reiterated his team working philosophy:

“We have such a close working, team orientated business, steeped in collaboration, training and innovation that to have people work from home would mean them missing out, either partly or totally, in Oakstone’s team-oriented collaboration that we are so proud of”

I will return to these themes in my future blogs as I signpost the further changes that Paul met and overcame in reaching the successful position he occupies today.