Meet Will Afriyie-Gibbons, DICE’s Head of Recruitment with a Walkman full of rare grime instrumentals

Will, DICE’s Head of Recruitment, wants you to know there are a lot of jobs open right now and you should hit him up on LinkedIn. Now that’s out of the way, let’s introduce the born-and-raised east Londoner properly. He’s lived in the same house for well over 20 years, he studied biomedical sciences before falling into recruitment, and he’s deeply empathetic when it comes to connecting with jobseekers. Learn more about the driving force behind our recruitment team below.

On his winding journey into recruitment

After uni, I went on to do a master’s that took me to Paris for a year, which is when I realised that I didn’t actually want anything to do with biomed. I had a few friends in recruitment who told me to give that a go; one of my mates reckoned I’d be good at it because if I was going on a night out and he didn’t fancy it, I’d always find a way to convince him. So when I got back to London, I started at a recruitment agency where I worked for about three years, and then on to a recruitment platform, and then eventually the opportunity came up with DICE. I started here over four years ago and I’ve seen it grow from a company of about 30 people to over 300 people, which is where we’re at now. 

On values that are important to him

I always want to treat others as I want to be treated and I try to put myself in another person’s shoes. Transparency is very big for me, as is trust – especially in this job. If I put myself in a jobseeker’s position, I need to show them that they can trust me. Even if it’s saying that I’m going to give them a call back at a certain time, I make that call. (And if I can’t, at least I’m dropping them a message to tell them why I’m delayed.) 

On the Limewire glory days

My oldest brother was big into hip-hop, so any kind of new tune that was out, I had the CD of it. I’d sneak his CDs, put it on the Walkman, and play it at school. When grime was first on the scene, I had hundreds of instrumentals. Not because I was an MC or anything, but just because I really enjoyed the instrumentals. MCs in my school would come to me for tunes that nobody could get their hands on – those were the glory days of Limewire.

Oh his approach to finding new hires

It’s all about ensuring candidate experience is high, and making sure you’re catching up with them to understand not just what they’re looking for in terms of salary, but also what they’re looking for in terms of projects and company culture. What will the job mean to them? Does getting this new job mean they get to move out for the first time? Does it mean they’ll be able to spend more time with their family and kids? A lot of the people that we bring in at DICE tend to be users of the app, so I connect with them not just about what they’re looking for in their role, but also about what they’re into in terms of going out and live events. And as much as I’m working for DICE, I’m also their spokesperson – I want to understand them so I can deliver their message to my colleagues and ultimately offer a package that works for them.

On the party scene in Accra

Both my parents are from Ghana and I was actually there for Christmas this year. I stay at a family house in Accra, which is quite central. If you want to go to the beach, it’s about a 20-minute drive, and there are loads of smaller towns nearby that have cinemas, bars and restaurants, so a good time is never far away. The party scene is crazy. Someone compared it to Ibiza when I was last there, and that’s so true. Partying until 8 or 9am is the norm, so that’s one thing I definitely made the most of.

Oh his favourite places to go out

In Accra, I go to Area Bar, Bloom Bar, Twist, Ace, Luna. Everyone is there to have a good time, so even if you can’t dance, no one’s gonna say anything. No one really cares as long as you’re there and down to have fun. The music is definitely more Afrobeats, hip-life, highlife, amapiano. When I was in London, I was like, I can’t wait to hear some amapiano in London, then when I got to Ghana, it was played so much that I was like, I’m done. But as soon as I landed back in London, I thought, “I quite fancy a bit of amapiano again.” In London, my area of choice for a night out is Shoreditch – a lot of time has been spent in Shoreditch.