Carlie Bowden is the Director of Product & Project Services at The Nudge Group, a start-up and scale-up recruitment agency, designed to work with accelerated growth businesses.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I’ve always worked in people centric roles, from the very beginning in retail and hospitality before moving into health & fitness and then falling into recruitment.
In my current role as a Director of Product & Project Services I work with start-up and rapid growth businesses on their individual journeys helping them ensure resources and recruitment are aligned to their development and growing needs.
2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
The nice thing about recruitment is that no two days are the same. There is so much variety to the work that we do and the people that we meet.
With interaction on both client and candidate side we tend to learn a lot about people, both on a professional and personal level. I probably enjoy hearing each start-ups story of how they have come about and where they are looking to grow.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Yes! One of the positives that have come out of COVID is the focus to have a stronger work-life balance.
Taking a two hour commute out of my day has really allowed me to do more, and I have the flexibility to be able to get stuff done during the week and be able to enjoy my weekend more.
I still really enjoy going into the office and collaborating with the team, but I couldn’t imagine ever going back to full-time office based.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
I think if you really love your job, work-life balance isn’t hard to achieve, working with the right people that offer you support when you need it and freedom to work the way that best suits your life ends up in a win-win situation.
I never look at the clock, and I don’t feel guilty if I’m out and about in the middle of the day for longer than my hour lunch break. Though if I work till 8pm some nights because the workload demands it I am more than happy to do so.
5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?
I think my biggest change to routine would be less gym time and more team sports. When I stopped travelling into the city I didn’t see the point of continuing with a gym membership, but picked up further team sports that I really enjoy.
6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?
I love a good motivational read, and books that inspire me to do more but are also an easy read. My top two books are The Magic of Thinking Big and My Four Year Old, the Property Investor.
7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?
I think just the normal essential ones like bank apps, emails, etc.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
No one really springs to mind, I think work-life balance means different things for different people so it would be good to understand a number of people’s perspectives.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
I think there is an importance to do something that you really enjoy in your day to day as you will be doing it for at least 40 hours a week, but also remember that you work to live.
I think sometimes we forget that no matter how much you love your job, the primary purpose to work is to earn money, so work hard to enjoy your life whatever that looks like for each individual.
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