Meet Kay Vella, head of recruitment at Betting Connections and SpotOn Connections. Kay has been with the company since it started in 2010 and has been an integral figure in shaping the culture of the company and contributing to its ongoing growth. Before Betting Connections and SpotOn Connections, she had worked in the iGaming and recruitment industries, and seamlessly blended the two in the iGaming recruitment industry. Kay is now a well-established professional in this industry with a lot of knowledge, so I took the time to ask her a few questions about Betting Connections, the iGaming industry, and herself.
You’ve been an important part of the company from day one, shaping how the business operates and the culture which we work by. What is it about Betting Connections that has led to ongoing success and international growth?
When we started the company in 2010, the iGaming industry in Malta was well established, but there were only three iGaming recruitment companies. What we wanted to offer, and still work tirelessly to offer today, is a personal recruitment service that invests time getting to know both clients and candidates, and their needs. We believe in honesty and transparency with our clients, and endeavor to find them the best candidates on the market – it is this drive to offer a high level of service that has led to our growth over the years as clients continue to come back to us when they are looking for new staff. To ensure that we maintain this high level of personal service, we employ a regulated thirty step recruitment process which is an integral part of our staff training, as well as our ongoing practices.
When working with candidates, we take time to get to know each person as an individual, what their personality is like, and what they are looking for. Without doing this, we wouldn’t feel confident in recommending a candidate for a role. In line with this, part of our service involves never sending a candidate’s CV to a client without first discussing the role and the company with them. This ensures that we understand their needs and that they have a genuine interest in the opportunity.
Having this highly personal approach to both candidates and clients has instilled trust in our clients because they have a strong appreciation of the level of our service – this allows us to make personal candidate recommendations based upon the individual. Thus we are able to place suitable candidates in roles where their CV doesn’t match on paper, but we think they would be a good fit for a role. We’ve found that the clients who have the best relationships with the recruitment consultants in our team are those who value the tailored approach that we have to recruitment – they see that our consultants are passionate about what they do and that each individual represents the values of the company. These clients build ongoing relationships with us, turn to us first when looking for new staff, and often ask us exclusively to place candidates in certain roles. This is representative of our service and it is something that we are proud of.
On a personal level, what keeps you motivated and engaged to continue being part of Betting Connections?
From a recruitment standpoint, I am faced with a variety of different roles and clients to deal with on a day to day basis, meaning that the job is always varied. What I see in the company is ambition and that it is always looking to grow, so there will always be room for progression. New focuses, new clients, and new teams are put together on an ongoing basis, so working with Betting Connections is never stagnant. We have staff from many different countries and cultures, so there is always something exciting happening internally. I worked for bigger and smaller companies before Betting Connections, but what I find is that whilst we continue to grow, we are still able to maintain a personal working relationship with each employee. We have an open door policy and we promote the idea of approachability throughout the company. There is no hierarchy in our offices and this contributes to the family feel environment that makes the offices pleasant to work in.
With the iGaming industry experiencing steady growth year on year, both in Malta and abroad, what do you see for the future of Betting Connections?
In Malta, iGaming is a well established industry that forms an integral part of the country’s business and I don’t see this trend stopping anytime soon. Even if it was to slow down in Malta, it will pick up elsewhere, and we already have a good base of international clients and candidates with whom we have built up strong levels of trust. As people become aware of us and our reputation spreads, we are continually introduced to new clients. As a result, we continue to carefully nurture and grow our teams, allowing us to cope with a higher demand for our services. Increasingly we have found that candidates come back to us when they look for new jobs and clients come back to us when looking for new staff – coupled with the fact that there will always be new companies starting, no matter how the industry moves, we will always perform strongly within it and I foresee further growth for us within the industry in future.
A lot of people would love the opportunity to get involved in the iGaming industry. What advice would you give to a candidate who is looking to get into the iGaming industry, but doesn’t have industry relevant experience?
Find your area of skill, learn about the iGaming industry, and if you don’t have experience in a particular role that you would like to become involved in, take the time to learn the necessary skills. Most importantly, show initiative because as a growing industry, iGaming is always looking to attract bright individuals. Sometimes we have candidates who aren’t perfect for certain roles on paper, but if they have the right personality and assets – being hard working, professional, a team player, and capable of applying relevant knowledge in the correct way – we will be happy to offer a personal recommendation to our client. Meeting candidates and getting to know them is part of the service that we offer, but they need to show us that they have the capability to learn and perform effectively. If an individual does this, we are able to use our personal recommendations to help them get started in the iGaming industry.
When a candidate comes to Betting Connections for help with their career, what can they expect from us?
We offer a personal service to them and we will take the time to meet with the candidate. We always try to meet with candidates in person to discuss what they are looking for, but when that isn’t possible we schedule an appropriate time for an in depth video call to discuss their candidate profile and personal requirements. During these initial meetings, we discuss their CV in detail, find out what they want from a new role, talk about what sort of company culture they would like to be part of, and do everything else that we can to understand their needs to ensure that we match them to appropriate positions. When we find a position that we deem to be appropriate, we’ll discuss the company and the role with them to make sure that they feel positive about it and that we have understood what they are looking for. If the candidate is happy for us to recommend them to our client and we are able to secure an interview for them with our recommendation, we’ll prepare the candidate for the interview and get feedback, from both sides, after the interview. Basically, we stay with the candidate and support them all the way from when they submit their CV to us, right through to when they start a job and beyond. We offer transparency for our candidates and follow up with them once they start a job, letting them know that we haven’t forgotten about them. This is part of the reason why so many candidates come back to us if they ever decide to look for a new move in their career.
Is there anything else that you would like to add about Betting Connections?
For individuals interested in joining our company, we are always looking to expand and we are always looking for exciting people to join the company that can bring good energy and have a positive effect on our working environment. If you are this sort of person, you might be someone we are looking for to join our team.
Similarly, if you are interested in working in the iGaming industry, register your CV with us today so that we can help you in the future. We always have jobs available in many locations, covering all sectors of the iGaming industry, and we update these on a daily basis so we never stop looking for talented individuals.
For potential clients who are looking for staff, we want to spread the message that we are here to help them. We want to be an extension of their HR department and do what is best for them, building long term relationships that are mutually beneficial for us, them, and the candidates that we recommend.
Betting Connections is built upon the foundation of offering personal recruitment solutions and consultation services for the iGaming industry, and we pride ourselves on our level of commitment to both candidates and clients. Testament to this is the growth we have experienced since opening our doors and we anticipate this continuing in the future. As Head of Recruitment, Kay has been a driving force in our company and continues to define the path our business takes. If you have an interest in working in the iGaming industry or you are looking for staff, please register your CV or get in contact with us to find out what we can do for you.
