Greenacre Recruit

We engaged Greenacre to help us find our new Board Chair in 2024. The Greenacre team listened carefully to our requirements and offered valuable insight and advice as we refined our search criteria and timetable. Contractor and client developed a valuable partnership approach to the assignment from the outset. The Greenacre team worked collaboratively with our own governance team, Board members, colleagues and tenants. All Greenacre team members working on this assignment were available, approachable, flexible, communicated effectively and went ‘the extra mile’ to make sure that the process worked well for us at each stage. They supported our process comprehensively from end to end – through information exchange, at remote meetings and on-site at our offices. Greenacre’s ‘search’ identified a range of high-calibre candidates and ultimately, our new Board Chair. All shortlisted candidates were asked at interview for feedback about how they had found the recruitment and selection process, and all were very positive about Greenacre’s engagement and support.

Gill Rejzl Vice Chair - Freebridge Community Housing

After helping us to recruit an excellent Director of Operations, we recently selected Greenacre to support us in finding a new Chief Executive for Arches Housing. The service received was second to none. Barry worked extremely hard to meet tight deadlines which other recruiters had said couldn't be achieved. He took time to really understand the sort of person that we were looking for, who would be a good fit for the organisation, then used his contacts to assemble a wide field of strong candidates. We found his advice on shortlisting, psychometrics and selection extremely helpful and would definitely work with Greenacre on senior appointments again should the need arise.

Kay Dickinson Chair of the Board, Arches Housing

We chose to work with Greenacre as they had spent some time getting to know the business and understood what we are about. We appointed them to recruit 2 new Chief Officer roles concurrently which brings its own complexity, but they handled it with aplomb. Their approach is genuinely like an extension of our own business which is important as a community-based organisation. They provided us with 2 strong longlists which resulted in 2 very competitive interview processes. We are delighted with our 2 new Executive Directors who are perfectly aligned to our initial brief and will have a really positive impact on the future of Saffron Housing Trust.

James Francis Chief Executive, Saffron Housing Trust

“I worked with Greenacre to recruit a new Managing Director for Cornwall Housing Limited (CHL) an ALMO managing 10,500 homes across Cornwall. CHL had been poorly managed for several years and was failing in its service to its customers. As part of the transformation process it was essential to recruit a new Managing Director, with the right skill set to lead the organisation on a journey of improvement as set by the board. They instantly understood what we were looking for and designed an impressive process involving the board, our customer representatives, and members of the Council. I found them very easy to deal with and trusted them to deliver for us. They were always available taking time to understand what we wanted. Following a hugely successful appointment we were confident to call them back to help out with Executive appointments. In summary, they understood our need, set the right process and most importantly, we got absolutely the right person.

Mike Hanrahan Chair of the Board, Cornwall Housing

I have worked with Greenacre on 3 senior recruitments across two organisations. The campaigns have used multi-media platforms, combining digital solutions, strong creative input and exceptional interpersonal relationship building capability to achieve great results. The Greenacre team collaborated with myself, and key people in the organisations. This included working with Executive and Senior Colleagues, Communications people, and HR colleagues. They spent time getting a deep understanding of the brief, the operating context, and the organisational culture to enable and inform a targeted approach via multimedia initially and then in the subsequent conversations this initiated. Greenacre deployed a clear approach with a good helping of agility and flexibility as needed to accommodate the needs of the business and availability! They ensured a great experience for all candidates which was a critical part of the brief given the importance to the brand reputation of the organisations involved. The outcome on each occasion I have worked with Greenacre has been the recruitment of candidates who have been a great fit for the roles and the organisations.

Helena Hutchinson HR Director

Greenacre stood out during the procurement process for our new Chief Executive because their proposal was tailored to our needs and there was a strong focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – this was fundamental to us to ensure we were able to select from a diverse pool of candidates. We used video to sell the opportunity on social media and bring the Southway and the opportunity to life, which worked really effectively – we had a very high application rate. Greenacre, working brilliantly with our Governance team, organised the assessment days, ensured all participants, including; customers, board member and colleagues, were fully briefed on their role to ensure we optimised their input in the process. It was a strong partnership approach. Their personable, considered and professional approach resulted in a very strong final set of candidates to progress to the assessment stage. Feedback from candidate experience was extremely high – they all said they enjoyed the process and felt they had been given the best opportunity to present all their skills and capabilities. I highly recommend Greenacre and Barry to be your recruitment partner for any Executive leadership role.

Hazel Makinson Chair of the Board, Southway Housing Trust