Aine Fanning: ‘Lift your head up and recognise the amazing work you’re doing.’

In a landscape where talent is the most critical currency, Aine Fanning has become a master navigator of human potential.

Her journey through the complex landscape of recruitment and organisational development isn’t about filling positions, but about understanding the intricate dance between individual aspirations and corporate needs. “It’s always a two-way street,” she shares with the passion of someone who sees beyond spreadsheets and job descriptions to the human behind the data.

“The two-way street is that a company wants an amazing workforce and people want to feel valued at work,” she explains. This philosophy has been the cornerstone of her approach and has brought her to her leadership role at Cpl Group, as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer.

Her recruitment journey was anything but planned. “I got my first job because I rang someone and it was the woman who owned the recruitment business that answered the phone,” she recalls. “After speaking with me, she asked her colleague, ‘Who was that woman? She has lovely telephone manners. Would she like a job in recruitment?'”

It’s a serendipitous start that speaks to the unpredictable nature of career paths, but Aine’s career progression has, one senses, been anything but unpredictable in terms of the success and recognition she has received. She is driven by a desire to “make things better” and what truly sets her apart is her commitment to continuous improvement. “I love seeing how I can make things work greater,” she says. “It’s like a puzzle. I constantly ask: ‘How can I make this better?'” This approach has been her career compass, driving her from one opportunity to the next, which today sees her as a leader in the global group that is Cpl, an organisation that is a global provider of talent solutions.

Her insights around the concept of value are particularly powerful when discussing women in the workplace. “For women, it seems especially important to understand how they bring value,” she explains. “Imposter syndrome can come in a lot quicker for women.” She has developed a managerial approach to addressing this challenge, encouraging women to recognise their worth and potential. “Recognise your value,” she states clearly. “Take time to acknowledge what you have developed, designed or achieved and celebrate it.”

She expands on this by sharing the importance of personal branding when it comes to work. “You have to lift your head up and say, ‘I did all this great work.’ Some people find that more difficult than others,” she explains. So, as a manager, it is important to remind your teams that ‘you did this, you solved this problem, you brought this value’. I encourage managers to stop mining and start shining! Shine a light on others.”

At Cpl, this philosophy of supporting others to shine translates into a people-centric culture that goes beyond typical corporate rhetoric. The company has implemented innovative initiatives such as fertility seminars and open discussions about menopause, for example, to foster a truly inclusive environment. “It’s about creating a safe place to be at whatever part of your life you’re going through,” she explains.

Her perspective on workplace authenticity is refreshingly straightforward. “Bringing your whole self to work means bringing the part of yourself you want to bring to work,” she says. “You don’t need to tell everything about yourself. You bring what you want to bring, what you feel comfortable sharing” It’s an approach that recognises individual comfort levels while still promoting genuine connection.

The concept of psychological safety is central to Aine’s leadership philosophy. She references research showing that teams with higher levels of psychological safety consistently outperform others. “Teams where everybody felt they could voice their opinion without judgment were the teams that performed best,” she explains, highlighting the critical importance of creating an open, supportive work environment.

This is especially important as the workplace now features multi-generational workforces. The future of work, she believes, is about creating truly inclusive environments that go beyond surface-level diversity. This commitment to inclusivity extends to Cpl’s approach to neurodiversity and disability. “We did staff surveys recently and one of the things that surprised us was how many people in our organisation identified as having a disability,” she shares. “Similarly with neurodiversity, survey results showed far more people identify with this than we initially realised because they choose not to share that part of themselves in work. Some people do, some people don’t and we aim to create a safe workplace where someone can decide what works best for them.”

Reflecting on her career trajectory, she is refreshingly humble. Unlike leaders with meticulously planned career paths, she admits: “I don’t know if I ever consciously said to myself, I want to be managing director of a business” (which she was for Cpl’s Talent Evolution Group before her current role). Instead, her guiding principle of making things better has “evolved into me having greater opportunities.”

This agile and adaptable approach has served her well in the rapidly changing world of talent management. Cpl receives an astounding 40,000 job applications per month for their clients, a testament to their innovative approach to recruitment. Aine emphasises the importance of digital marketing in strategic talent attraction, noting that modern recruitment is about much more than traditional job postings. When asked about how to stand out amongst such several other CVs she suggests potential candidates optimise their CVs as you do a website or article for SEO. “It’s about keywords,” she suggests. “Your CV can be easily passed over if you have not included the keywords that are needed, so optimise that element of it.”

And finally, when it comes to progressing, Aine circles back to her earlier sage advice: “Celebrate your wins. Lift your head up and recognise the amazing work you’re doing.”

For more information on Ireland’s leading specialised recruitment and talent solutions firm visit cpl.com.