Jim Chirm

Background

About Jim Chirm

Are you looking for an experienced manager to lead change and develop your teams? Do you need a skilled manager with operations, HR and recruitment skills? I’m originally from a pit village in north Notts. I went to university as a ‘mature’ student, gained a good degree and studied in Spain, then taught English in Greece, Poland and Spain, before eventually settling in Kent. I built a successful management career with senior leadership roles in the International Education sector, where I managed product delivery in two of the UK’s largest residential course providers. For both, I led massive change and development programmes to improve services, efficiency and allow the organisations to grow. At Stafford House Study Holidays - one of the UK’s largest chain of EFL summer schools - the systems, structures, IT and training packages I built during a 10-year growth period, allowed the company to increase customer numbers by 50% while improving service levels and earning over £5m PA turnover. At Churchill House I managed the company’s transformation into an award-winning company in the top 10% of all accredited schools. After COVID I took time to ‘do my bit’, working for a community charity. I led a programme of change which has included internal restructuring, tenants to bring in income, and systems implementations such as Finance (Intuit), HR (BreatheHR) and CRM (BeaconCRM) systems. I am a professional manager by trade. My titles have included the words ‘Manager’, ‘Director’ and ‘Head of’, but colleagues have called me ‘Human’, ‘Supportive’, ‘Genuine’, ‘Professional’ and ‘a rock’. A good manager should be all of those things. Change has played a key part in my management career and has been the reason for my success. I have successfully led change programmes at different levels, ranging from IT projects to business turnarounds. I don’t believe in ‘superpowers’ but my key management skills are: Supporting and developing staff; identifying their strengths and coaching them to achieving their potential Vision and commitment to drive change forward; engaging stakeholders at the heart of any change to shape outcomes and lead the change Senior-level expertise in all areas of business, HR, finance and IT management - can contribute to change with SMEs at all levels, from tradespeople to senior leadership Professional communications; able to have difficult conversations on sensitive issues I’m now focussing on change management and am available for fixed-term or permanent contracts, hybrid or onsite in London/Kent. jimchirm@gmail.com