STRAMMER’s Talent Corner with David Mercier  , Founder & CEO

Today, with 10 offices located in the main cities of Europe and 46 consultants & executive coaches, STRAMMER celebrates its 10-year anniversary. I want to thank our clients, partners, and collaborators for helping me develop my company. And a special thank you to my family who have always encouraged me to follow my dreams!

One of the questions I’m frequently asked is: how did you create STRAMMER?

On this special occasion, I’d like to share the story of how I started STRAMMER with you.

Growing up in the suburbs of Paris, I always dreamed of running my own company. Working in different recruitment firms, I gained experience and so years later with hard work and dedication, I achieved my dream and developed STRAMMER.

After my studies and with barely any experience in the HR sector, I was randomly called by a head-hunter, Gérard Sellem who asked me to come work for Hudson. I accepted and became his research assistant and then consultant for 2 years.

In 2002, I got in contact with Monette Hayoun who offered me a senior search consultant position. I took the job at MHC medical, the leading company in France for Middle Management in talent acquisition. I built my way up to become General Manager and I developed the business at MHC Medical by multiplying the revenues by 5.

Two of my colleagues from MHC Medical, Anne-Sophie Nicolai and Claire Chevalier joined me for the development of my own company with an initial specialisation: Middle Management Talent Acquisition in the Medical Device sector. My vision was to propose a global HR solution including talent acquisition and talent management dedicated to Life Sciences in Europe. And so, in 2008, I followed my dream and founded STRAMMER.

I wanted to develop a business with strong human values, just like those that I learned when playing rugby. Today, the motto our team always remembers here at STRAMMER is #AllAsOne.

Two years later, we implemented Talent Management. Our clients expected STRAMMER to help them with recruitment, but I wanted to bring more to the table, how to help develop new leaders. So, in 2016, we created the Full talent Solution®. It is the first Talent Strategy offering dedicated to Life Sciences, to support organisations with a diverse offering, in order to impact their business by strengthening and optimising their business’s human capital. It includes Middle and Top Management, Talent Management & Outplacement.

Today, we are thinking of expanding into the strategic consulting field with a growth acceleration programme. Indeed, in the near future, my objective is to grow the Full Talent Solution® by integrating more practices. This way, we will support our clients in addressing the challenges of the Life Sciences industry.

My tip to building a successful business:

I gained a lot of experience, working many hours day and night. If you dream of opening your own company one day, you need to do your best and learn from all your experiences good or bad. Additionally, listen to leaders who have more experience and knowledge than you and take all the advices you can. Trust me, I still use suggestions I was given in my previous jobs along with guidance from inspiring leaders when leading my own company. To success, we must surround ourselves with the best, even the ones better than us.