Experience:
Louella Dizon is Practice Manager for the Board Practice and Executive Assistant to Ciaran Donovan, Co-Founder of Omera Partners, based in the Sydney office. She keeps a high volume search practice running to schedule and holds the detail together across every board search the team touches. Louella chatted with us about what that support looks like day today, and what has kept her in executive search for so long.
What is your role at Omera Partners, and whatbrought you to executive search?
“I am Executive Assistant to Ciaran Donovan and Practice Manager for the Board Practice, managing deadlines across the 75-100 appointments the team completes each year including handling end to end communication with clients and candidates, alongside additional executive assistant work for Ciaran on the internal side of the business. I joined search after university, taking a receptionist role with a search firm in central London while I was looking for a corporate role. A few months later I was asked to cover an executive assistant maternity leave in the CFO team, and I have been in search ever since."
Who do you support, and what does it take to keep asearch practice running well?
"From the initial client briefing through to ensuring everything has been covered before closing off the search, that volume of work brings a significant amount of coordination, with up to 600 candidate and client meetings to schedule in a single year. It is important that the team follows a consistent process wherever possible to make sure nothing is missed. That said, it also takes a good deal of flexibility, and I am often moving between supporting Ciaran and jumping in to help the other members of the team when they need an extra pair of hands."
What do candidates, clients and colleaguesexperience when they work with you?
“Every candidate can also become a client, so I treat everyone with the same level of respect, regardless of where they sit in the process. The people we work with, Non Executive Directors and Chairs, have generally been in the corporate world for a long time and know exactly what they expect from an executive search process. Communication is a priority for me. Even when there is no news to share, I make sure clients and candidates hear from me, so they know their search is still front of mind. Within the team, I am known for being organised. We often have a number of searches running concurrently, and any partner or researcher knows that when they come to me for an update, I will generally have that answer. Above all, I care about the outcome, and that every client and candidate receives the best possible experience from us.”
What do you most enjoy about working at OmeraPartners, and what are you most proud of in your work?
“I enjoy the people and the culture at OmeraPartners. There is no one in the business you cannot approach for a chat. Ialso enjoy the pace. I like to be kept busy, and the Board Practice certainlykeeps me that way. I am proud of how many appointments we complete each year,and that clients consistently come back to us with additional roles, whichspeaks to the quality of the work the team does time and again.”
“Greatness is found not just in how good you are at the task in hand but you as a person. The way you treat others, and the respect you show them. It is going out of your way to help and support people, not because you have to, but because you want to.”
What does life look like outside the office?
"I am a busy mother of two young children, both still in primary school, and our weekends are spent at the local park, at sporting activities, or exploring somewhere new. As I am originally from England, we make the most of trips home to see family, and as my mother has recently retired, she is able to visit us more often."
