In our series of Advo’s key people this month our focus is on Matthew McSweeney, an HR specialist who has broad experience and an important remit within our organisation.

“Hi, I’m Matt, one of your CIPD-qualified HR consultants at Advo, with over a decade of experience across HR, people leadership, retail, service and consultancy.

Like most, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I left college and ended up starting my career with Tesco, progressing from General Assistant into leadership and management roles before moving into dedicated HR positions, later becoming a People & Culture Manager with Primark, gaining extensive experience supporting large teams, senior leaders and fast-paced business environments.

Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to lead and develop significant teams. At Tesco, I managed teams of more than 100 colleagues, while at Primark I led an HR team of three and coached and supported approximately 25-line managers, alongside supporting a workforce of more than 300 colleagues. Developing people has always been a key part of my career, and I’m proud to have supported colleagues in progressing into more senior roles through coaching, training and development.

I’ve also led teams through significant periods of change, successfully delivering organisational restructures, change programmes and complex employee relations matters, while maintaining engagement and supporting business performance. Earlier in my management career, my focus was on service, which really helped me understand people and how HR and people leaders can really influence and lead change resulting in achieving service KPIs consistently after a period of underperformance.

My contribution at Primark extended beyond my own store. I was trusted to support four additional stores through a significant People restructure, working with Store Managers, Area Managers and in-store management teams to help them navigate the change. As part of this, I upskilled managers across all areas of HR from recruitment to exit, building their confidence and capability to manage people matters effectively.

After leaving Primark in 2024, I joined ADVO as an HR Consultant, allowing me to bring my extensive fast paced in-house experience into consultancy and support a broader range of businesses and clients.

I understand the pressure that sits behind the HR question. I understand what it’s like to make difficult people decisions, manage competing priorities, lead through change and balance employee needs with commercial pressures. Therefore, I appreciate that managers need advice that is clear, commercially realistic and workable — not simply an answer based on policy or legislation. Having operated as both a people leader and an HR professional, I can see situations from both perspectives, and I hope that my experience gives my clients confidence that my advice is grounded in real-world leadership experience.

I’m particularly passionate about developing managers and building HR capability. I believe that the strongest HR support doesn’t just resolve the immediate issue — it leaves leaders better equipped to deal with the next one.

I’m proud of the journey I’ve taken from frontline retail to HR leadership and now consultancy. Every stage has given me a different perspective, allowed me to meet new people and the opportunity to make a difference.

I continue to look forward to bringing that experience to our clients, building trusted relationships and helping businesses develop confident leaders, make better people decisions and create workplaces where people and businesses can thrive.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, travelling (next stop Australia), going to festivals, trying new food and making the most of a spontaneous day out.”

Matt with some of the Advo HR Team