Attracting the best talent from across the Country
Attracting an Executive Director to a role where location is nationwide and the skillset can be broad which opens the search and selection to most of the sector across the whole Country.
Search & Selection stats
This recruitment campaign delivered the following outcomes
87
Applications
28
Interviewed by Greenacre
53
% Female applicants
25
% Other under-represented groups
The brief
Greatwell Homes own over 5000 properties and were formed by LSVT in Wellingborough in 2007. Over the past few years they have transformed from a very traditional RP to a values driven, community centric organisation with a clear focus on their people- both residents and staff. This transformation included a change to their working practices which involved re-purposing their offices to a hub and establishing a fully remote workforce.
They have an Executive Team of 3 and approached Greenacre to help replace one of their outgoing Executive Directors. The brief was unique as their Executives operate in a matrix system which involves responsibility for one core pillar of responsibility, and then the other business streams can flex outside of that as the business requires.
This structure opened up their talent pool to most of the Executive Housing market across the whole country and all business functions (other than Finance & Audit).
The Agreed Approach
The wide search criteria widened the possible talent pool significantly. Whilst this is an appealing factor, it can also lead to a number of challenges. Firstly, getting the message in front of the right people and promoting the brand of Greatwell Homes. Secondly, ensuring those with the requisite skills would be comfortable in this unique environment. And finally, ensuring all interested parties have a fair and equal opportunity.
This meant that the brief focussed more on executive leadership skills, cultural fit and ability to operate in a remote fashion rather than specific operational expertise. Despite this wide search, Greatwell is still a small/medium sized RP, so it was critical that our search delivered applicants with the right mindset, approach and capability to have a positive impact in the local community.
This resulted in our largest and most complex search & selection process- holding initial conversations with 87 candidates and carrying out full assessment interviews with 28 applicants. (53% female, 23% BAME, 1 homosexual and 1 neuro-diverse).
The outcome
We co-ordinated a 3 stage interview process with Executive, Board and tenant involvement as well as facilitating a psychometric assessment which all applicants as well as the CEO and existing Executive Director completed to provide a full and comprehensive picture of all applicants and how they would integrate to this small executive team. On successful completion of the campaign, the CEO, Jo Savage, stated that the final decision was “one of the most difficult in my professional life”, due to the quality at final shortlist stage.
Really good-very pleased we chose Greenacre for the recruitment. They kept us well informed, produced a very strong field of candidates and helped us make a very difficult final decision. The Myers Briggs profiles were particularly helpful
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