Meet The Team

Firstly I’m a Geordie! Although if you speak to me you’d never know, 24 years in Manchester has taken care of my accent! Take me back to “the Toon” though on a night out and you’ll find there’s still a Geordie buried in there somewhere!

My first Job out of Uni was sales, that led to recruitment, I found my home and have been in the industry ever since!

I’ve been in recruitment for 22 years within the commercial space working at all levels in the Sales and Service sector from Advisor up to C-Suite. Over that time, I have climbed the ladder from Consultant to Senior Management before scratching the itch to partner with Nat and build Optimise Talent.

I am married with 1 beautiful daughter; she has been the biggest motivator in my life. Creating the best life for her may sound cliched but it’s so true!

Outside of work I’m pretty active…

• I go running regularly and plan to do the Manchester half next year
• I love winter sports, I have been snowboarding since my early 20’s.
• I play golf….badly!
• I love music my favourite gig was probably The Stone Roses at Heaton Park but there are too many to choose from!
• I love food and eating out, I’ve eaten in a few Michelins stars but nothing beats a good curry!

That’s it for now, the rest you’ll have to find out when we speak so pick up the phone I’m always happy to chat!

When I was young, I had 2 preferred career choices…. 1.) A Dentist or 2.) A world-renowned Journalist- now it’s easy to see why I ended up in recruitment!

I had 2 call centre jobs out of uni until I decided what I wanted to do and then one day as they say, I fell into recruitment! That’s nearly 19 years ago…. 39,000 hours of recruiting…. 1000’s of fab candidates, clients and colleagues… Multiple locations…. Lots of promotions along the way and finally let’s put it bluntly I had the b@lls to set up a company that I can be proud of, alongside the great Tom McConkey. Having worked together for the last 11 years I wouldn’t have done it with anyone else!

Here’s some important things to know about me:

• My favourite country is Vietnam, De Nang had the nicest people I have ever met
• I am a huge foodie, with a list of restaurants I want to visit- it just keeps getting longer. Happy to share this list on request, this has been many years in the making
• I absolutely love laughing, jokes, comedies, funny people…
• I love cars (old and new) and I absolutely adore a trip to the theatre - I’ve been to 100’s of shows!
• My all-time fave concerts so far are: Eminem and Coldplay- AMAZING

Who is Tom Boone? A one-time drummer who started his career in “Grill Chef-ery” for high-end establishment, Nando’s. After realising his potential was being wasted bashing drums and flippping chickens, he decided after some blue sky thinking that he’d pivot into an industry he had long-wanted to break into – phone based Debt Collection.

After convincing countless customers that payment plans were the future, he soon discovered his flair for phone-based persuasion was a God given gift and progressed into selling financial products to high-net worth clients for a well known Bank.

But it wasn’t enough...

In October 2017 Tom made a decision that changed his life, he went into Recruitment. Hired by Tom McConkey and Nat McCluskey for Search in the space of 6 years he went from a Trainee all the way up to Business Partner.

When Tom and Nat started up Optimise Talent in 2023, Tom was lonely and felt empty in their absence, so when the call was made in 2024, the pull was too strong and he became the 3rd Director at Optimise Talent

What next for Tom Boone and Optimise Talent? Complete Domination of the Sales Recruitment world, putting the best sales candidates in the best sales roles across the UK all whilst enjoying the best food and company that Media City has to offer!