A Quarter Century of Innovation and Growth for Nicoll Curtin Group

Nicoll Curtin, a global leader in IT recruitment, is celebrating 25 years of successful business this year. This milestone not only confirms the company’s stability in a dynamic sector but also highlights the key role of Serbia in its global growth. In an interview with BIZLife magazine, Dragana Atanasov Poparić, Chief Operations Officer at Nicoll Curtin Group, discusses how the Serbian team, through innovation and teamwork, has become a crucial factor in the company’s global success. Dragana also shares her vision for the future, which includes further development and expansion into new markets, with a continued investment in employees and providing top-notch service to clients.

• How is Nicoll Curtin Group celebrating 25 years of existence and what were the key moments that defined the company’s trajectory so far?

Sanda Mokanić

This is a very special year for us, as we look back at the legacy of Nicoll Curtin and set targets for the future. It’s a rare success in the recruitment sector to have such longevity.

Ours is a story of expanding globally and reaching new heights in business success. After incorporating in London in 1999, we opened our Zürich office in 2010, Singapore in 2011 and the Serbia office opened in 2019 as the Centre of Excellence. Concurrently, we had significant achievements, such as being selected as the Recruitment Company of the Year by APSCo and Best Company to Work with by Sunday Times. Nicoll Curtin has gone through a leadership change with Neil Clark becoming the CEO in 2020. Neil brought a strong vision supported by his over 25 years’ experience in technology recruitment, which has truly transformed the company. Becoming a finalist for the APSCo Business Leader of the Year Award twice in a row is a testament to that. Due to consistently delivering outstanding service, we have gained global accounts for leading technology, finance and media companies. We opened our offices in Berlin and Hong Kong in 2022 and a physical office in Dublin in 2023. You can see that it’s been non-stop for Nicoll Curtin’s expansion and growth.

Although, we officially kicked off our 25th anniversary celebrations with the Awards Night in Belgrade this January, the planning has been underway for the past two years. We strategically decided to mark this milestone in two ways: By investing in our people and enhancing our operations and by giving back to our clients and candidates. On the first front, we’ve focused on learning and development programmes, systems and technology upgrades, and employee wellbeing initiatives. I am proud to share that our staff consistently rates their work-life balance and enjoyment from day-to-day work at over 95%. Secondly, we’ve expanded our value-added services to benefit our clients and candidates. This includes launching salary guides, market reports, organising events with technology industry experts and deepening our commitment to ESG.

• The office in Serbia is celebrating its fifth anniversary. What were the main reasons for choosing Serbia as a new location for business expansion and how did the office develop over the years?

It was my passion for all along to benefit from the bright talent in Serbia who are well-equipped with the skills needed to success in the international business arena. Serbia’s location in Europe makes another strong point for establishing an outsourcing centre here. After living in Switzerland for years and having experienced both countries; I made the proposal and the company decided to support me to test the potential impact of the Serbian office to the growth of our business.

• What, in your opinion, have been the most significant achievements and challenges of the Nicoll Curtin Group in Serbia so far?

Serbia office has grown significantly over the years since starting with administrative and sales support for our Switzerland office. Today, it collabrates with the rest of the Group, and proudly contributes to the 40% of the global sales revenue. This growth has resulted with the Serbia office leading the whole operational aspect of the Group, including marketing, learning and development and HR.

We launched the initiative during the Covid pandemic. When I look back, I see a lot of challenges to fight, many reasons to fail. Thanks to our talented and dedicated team, with strategic planning and strong partnerships we were able to get this from a pilot project into a core sales business driver. Now, it delivers the highest quality operational support that our company has ever had.

• How did the integration of the office in Serbia affect the culture and operations of the company on a global level?

Through the contributions of the Serbia office to revenue in a cost-efficient way, the business has been able to scale more quickly by reallocating investment. We expanded to new markets faster and increased investment in initiatives such as ESG and learning and development programmes. We brought the global teams together in many occasions; one of which is our truly unforgettable Awards Night in Dubai in 2023. It was a long weekend with the entire Group employees, not only celebrating our success but also relaxing and enjoying the great environment together. Global teams experience many benefits of collaboration between offices daily. It improves the team spirit which leads to better business results.

• How has Nicoll Curtin Group’s presence in Serbia affected the local labour market?

We are the first outsourced recruitment business in Serbia, which fits perfectly with the pioneering spirit of Nicoll Curtin Group. Our focus in Serbia has been providing opportunities to students, recent graduates, and individuals facing challenges going back to work due to the unstable job market. We have always believed that the skills can be learnt if the person share Nicoll Curtin attribute. This approach has proven to be a huge success. Even in challenging years for the market, we have never done layoffs and made sure that our people were taken care of during difficult times.

• As Chief Operating Officer, how did your role develop with the growth of the company, especially with the expansion into new markets like Serbia? What are your main business goals for the next five years, both for the office in Serbia and the company as a whole?

Nicoll Curtin is a company which provides all the opportunities for its people to take their desired career paths. Over the past 10 years, I’ve had the privilege of watching the company expand globally, while my career grew along with it. A turning point for me was our expansion into Serbia. This allowed me to step up and me led to my current position as the COO, being responsible for Nicoll Curtin’s operations and sales worldwide.

What is the future for Nicoll Curtin? As we enter our next quarter-century, Nicoll Curtin Group will continue to expand its global footprint. Each new location strengthens our team in Serbia, which reinforces our commitment to serving our clients and supporting our employees. We always strive to stay ahead of the game and keep our business up-to-date with the skills and regulations of new and existing markets. Our key business ethos is quality over quantity. We will proudly continue assisting our clients finding top talent even within challenging market dynamics. Besides our sustainability initiatives and charitable work we already regularly do, investing in our team’s growth through global learning opportunities will continue to be a key focus.

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Izvor: BIZLife

Foto: Sanda Mokanić