Sophie Macpherson – if the name sounds familiar it’s no wonder: Sophie runs the fine art world’s best known recruitment agency, and she started it from scratch, in her father’s garage, with hard work, a good idea, and some determination. Charlotte Appleyard finds out how Sophie not only created her own job, and company, but has helped thousands find work in a competitive industry.
I’ve had a lot of jobs. I’ve worked for very little and sometimes for free. To get anywhere in the art world you generally have to. Then as soon as I got a decent job my friends started emailing; “do you know anyone who can get me an internship/summer work?” While I stood helpless and apologetic with my lack of personal power, Sophie Macpherson saw an opportunity; she started a fine art recruitment agency.
I first met Sophie in New York four years ago as she was starting to build up her contact base – I was a lowly intern. She was working for a London art dealer and surrounded by friends who were trying to get into the art world. So she started to ask around, speaking to galleries, private dealers and collectors about how they recruited their staff. While a lot of it worked on a ‘who knew who’ basis, there was no formal process or anyone to filter CVs or make introductions. So in 2002 aged 23 she set up Sophie Macpherson Ltd in her father’s garage.
The first position she filled was for a PA/research position at Angews, the well established Bond Street gallery. She has retained a relationship ever since. For the next eighteen months Sophie worked every hour in the day filling the West End arts establishments and dealerships with largely female, History of Art grads. Most of the jobs were entry level – gallerina, researcher, PA or a combination of the three. Four years later, Sophie splits her time between London and New York and has a team of five working airy offices in Fitzrovia. Jessica has been with her for three and half years and Emily for eighteen months. The company has exploded. “Summer 2007 was crazy”, says Emily, “We had eighty positions to fill”. Word has spread and the company currently have approximately twelve thousand CVs on file with 15 to 25 new applicants coming in a day. We giggle over how far she’s come since that coffee in New York and I ask when she first felt the real scope of her position: “it was when I placed the Contemporary Art Director of the Fine Arts Society” she smiles “since then I have been constantly surprised by the level and diversity of jobs we are asked to fill”.
She’s not wrong, most people in the art world want to be a curator – I even flirted with the idea too- but once you’re inside you realise just how many opportunities there are for you. Most recently Sophie has been hunting for the perfect person to spend nine months at sea aboard a cruise ship selling art to the passengers. She’s placed candidates in jobs beyond the gallery world, with private collectors, dealerships and art fairs. Each application demands that Sophie and her colleagues bone up on the period, subject or market they are recruiting for The work is coming in from abroad too. Sophie is in New York nearly once a month and thought about setting up and office there but for the time being she’s happier building up a base of candidates and positions. She has scouts all over the world – art world professionals who keep the eyes open for emerging talent or potential positions but she is not quite ready to commit to another office yet. “On average we have about 40 positions to fill at any one time, some might take a week, three weeks or even two months”. Currently 20 of those jobs are in London, half a dozen in New York and Dubai, 3 or 4 in Europe and a few in Far East. “We need Chinese Specialists” she claims, understandably, the education and specialisation can hardly keep up with the explosion in the market.
The response to Sophie’s work is unanimously positive, she helped to place Rosie Unteregelsbacher at Fred London. Rosie glows when asked about her experience with them: “They were really helpful and incredibly friendly and I’m not sure where I’d be if I hadn’t approached them. A former colleague of mine told me about the agency (I don’t think I would have found it otherwise). I think it’s a really indispensable service for those in the art world who may have tonnes of experience but not yet a load of contacts in London”.
Rosie’s point is crucial, lack of education or experience is never a problem – it’s knowing who to talk to and getting that first job or placement. Sophie is keenly aware of this and so last year set up an internship programme. Aimed largely at recent graduates, Sophie and her team are placing candidates for 1-3 month periods within galleries and institutions, the programme is also running in New York. “It’s been really successful”, says Sophie, “70% of the candidates go on to get a full time job”. She tries to match everyone, and keeps all CVs on file but there are pet peeves I’d avoid if you are job hunting. “I’m always shocked at how many people make spelling mistakes on their CVs, then there are those who chew gum during interviews or who have obviously put out a cigarette just before they walk in” she grimaces. It seems people forget how crucial the old cliché about first impressions really is.
Towards the end of our chat I asked Sophie if there was anyone she refused to work with. Naming no names of course she told me a couple of stories of gallerinas sent home for not wearing a skirt to work, of dragon-like collectors and negligent gallery owners but it’s all said with a laugh and they seem to be in the minority. As we finish Sophie explains how much homework she often has to do, last week she had to be an expert on Islamic pottery, next week it will probably be eighteenth century miniatures. With all this hard work maybe Sophie should consider applying for some of those jobs she’s trying to fill.
