Ben Sweeney
Defence Learning Consultant
In work
I joined Instinct in early 2022 and have recently moved into a role as Instinct’s Defence Learning Consultant where I work in both a client and candidate facing capacity. I’m not sure when exactly it happened, but I seem to have unofficially taken on the mantle of Instinct’s IR35 expert, so feel free to reach out with any queries!
Out of work
Out of office hours I try to keep busy, ideally either watching some live music, or exploring different cities. Where possible I’ll always try to go back over to the right side of the Pennines and spend my time back in God’s Own Country!
- Favourite film – Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Dinner party guest – Sean Bean
- Favourite place – Yorkshire
- No. 1 Quote – “Arise, arise, riders of Rohan!
Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered!
A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now, ride to Gondor!” - Guilty Pleasure – Lee’s fiancé, Charlotte
Instinct has been able to provide us with talented individuals who have been instrumental in enabling us to move forward with our programme development. Without them I do not believe we would be where we are now!. I would highly recommend Luke and Instinct to provide the candidates that you need, the turn around times from request to hire is simply amazing
We wanted to hire some flexible resource, Digital Learning Designers and Developers, to support our internal team with some project work. As Instinct were already a supplier to the Crown Commercial Service Framework, they were already fully vetted and ready for us to use. We did speak to a few other agencies but the fact that they were on the framework was the deciding factor. Since our initial project, we’ve used Instinct again on multiple occasions. They take the time to understand our project and need and then can suggest solutions. Usually we can have a shortlist of suitable Digital Learning contractors within 2-3 days of us discussing the brief. We’ve also hired A Learning Consultant, LMS Platform Specialist, LMS Admins, Graphic Designers and Video Editors on this model. It’s a ready-made pool of flexible resource which we can tap into on demand.
All candidates have been excellent, they have all the skills and experience we were looking for, they’re curious, make suggestions and really get stuck in. In comparison to people we previously hired direct, the quality it like night and day between the two. Because we had used Instinct for previous recruitment and seen the calibre of candidates you were able to provide. Also, I had worked with you in a candidate capacity and knew what the candidate experience was like working with Instinct. Finally, my poor experience working with other recruitment agencies, a lot of which have been unreliable. In terms of quality and communication Instinct have stood out. The main thing is communication and being kept informed throughout the process.