60 Seconds with Shannon McGready

Tell us about your role and your organisation.
My name is Shannon McGready. I am Talent Acquisition Partner at TP ICAP.
TP ICAP is the worlds largest inter-dealer broker. We have a great presence within the financial services sector and have offices world-wide with over 5,000 employees. 
Within the Belfast branch specifically our Technology and Operations departments have a large presence here and look after all of our EMEA trades. 
I am the TA Partner here within TP ICAP. I look after recruitment for the whole Belfast branch over all departments. I thoroughly enjoy my role and really value the culture which has been developed within Belfast. Usually within large global firms it would be unknown to talk to senior managers within the company, however, within TP ICAP the culture is very different where no person is off limits and questions and queries are always welcomed. This makes it a really great environment to work with and makes it easy to build colleague relationships from this.

Give us a brief overview of your career journey so far.
I first began in TP ICAP in January 2023 as a TA Co-Ordinator originally on a fixed term contract. An opportunity for a permanent role and a promotion came up and I applied for it on the off-chance, only to secure the role and then got promoted to TA partner 6 months after joining and now solely run all recruitment for the Belfast branch.

Describe yourself in 3 words.
Chatty, adaptable and committed.

What is one skill that helps you most in your role?
Communication

What advice do you have for women in your sector/industry/type of role? 
Don't be too hard on yourself. There's always a lot of information to know around different job roles, and it's okay not to know everything off the bat. Don't be afraid to ask questions - as the saying goes, everyone has to start somewhere so it's okay to be curious and ask questions for people to go into more detail or explain something further to you.

Are there any exciting plans in the year ahead in your organisation that you can share with us? 
Currently we are recruiting for a vast amount of Technology roles. This is around our new and exciting Fusion platform which essentially is a trading platform which our engineers are building out in order for our brokers to stock/trade on.

Who has been your biggest career inspiration and why?
My sister-in-law - she has massively excelled in her career in a short period of time and always is on hand to offer help to her direct reports with anything no matter how big or small it is. I find it really encouraging to see how someone who is only a few years older than me be so successful and work her way up within one company. She values all aspects of her work and will always ensure that anything she delivers on is always up to her standards.

If you had to pick your soundtrack song to get you through the working day, what would it be?
Sky Full of Stars - It's an automatic feel good song, helps get me head in the zone and get stuck in.

What's your favourite break-time snack?
It's always a coffee from Neighbourhood

How can you fellow WIB members keep up to date with you and your organisation?
Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn