1CHARISMA RECRUITMENT |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Managing Director, Jenny Warner

Selecting inspired professionals

Managing Director Jenny Warner founded Charisma Recruitment in 2002 after selling her former recruitment consultancy. Having previously been

involved with a number of charities as a volunteer, Jenny witnessed a widespread issue across the sector – many of these organisations were struggling with staffing. Over the past 17 years, Charisma have worked to alleviate that problem, and now serve as a highly specialist consultancy for the charity and not-for-profit sector. They focus predominantly on middle to senior management alongside also placing new trustees and chief executives. Jenny tells The Parliamentary Review more about Charisma’s work in the third sector, and how they absorb and understand each client’s culture to find the best candidate for every role.

We’re an independent, specialist recruitment consultancy. Around 80 per cent of

what we do is repeat business or comes about as the result of recommendations or

referrals from satisfied clients and candidates.

Since 2002, we have worked in – and grown to know – a broad variety of different

charity sectors. These include arts and culture, healthcare, disability, youth support,

housing, faith, care for older people, animal welfare and also military organisations.

Alongside this, the size of clients we partner with ranges considerably – whether

it’s a local charity or national organisation in question, we are always able to offer

our expert services.

FACTS ABOUT CHARiSMA ReCRUiTMenT

» Founder and Managing Director: Jenny Warner

» established in 2002

» Based in Winchester and London

» Services: executive search and selection for charities and not-for-profit organisations

» no. of employees: 7

» extensive geographical reach throughout the UK on all executive assignments

» charismarecruitment.co.uk

Charisma Recruitment

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

2 | CHARISMA RECRUITMENT

We pride ourselves on being a person-centred company in a person-centred sector – we’re a high-integrity, ethical and honest recruitment consultancy. Additionally, our name reflects the quality we know to be truly necessary for successful work in the charity sector – charisma.

Attracting the top talent with Charisma

Our expertise is recruitment, through and through – with every client we work with, we aim to be a “chameleon” of sorts – whether we’re recruiting for a hospice or an animal welfare charity, we strive to analyse exactly what makes an organisation tick before progressing further. We learn about the culture of each charity and we want to absorb it to ensure that each candidate is best placed for the role in question.

Testament to our excellence in this regard is our membership of The Recruitment & employment Confederation alongside being awarded our honorary fellowship of The institute of Recruitment Professionals in 2012 – one of only five across 6,000 members. We offer the highest standards of ethical recruitment, and both clients and candidates alike truly appreciate what we do.

The personal touch

On a day-to-day basis, we meet clients and advise on the state of the marketplace and how to attract and retain the best talent. Out of a desire for further efficiency, we often use Skype or FaceTime to meet for a “virtual coffee” as well as meeting face-to-face. A lot of our prospective candidates are time-poor, so we find flexibility and technological familiarity to be of paramount importance.

We ensure appropriate induction and onboarding takes place for all successful candidates, while also speaking to those who have aspirations of transitioning into the third sector – whether their background is from the City, the military, the public sector or elsewhere.

For these prospective candidates, we hold career clinics and training workshops focusing on transferable skills, and also host peer-level networking events for chief executives, chairs and trustees. We ourselves also attend charity conferences – and have spoken at some – to further outline how best to recruit the right trustee or executive.

it’s about more than just filling a role – our service goes far beyond that. At Charisma, we offer a full advisory service for charity and not-for-profit recruitment and staff planning and development. it may well be a niche area, but it’s our niche, and we know it well.

it doesn’t just come down to placing a candidate

Our geographical coverage is quickly expanding. We have opened a London office in Covent Garden to enhance our network in the City and our reach extends throughout the UK. improved access is a real priority for us – and from our head office in Winchester, we continue to connect with charities of all sizes across the UK.

The Charisma team

We strive to analyse exactly what makes an organisation tick

“ “

3CHARISMA RECRUITMENT |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

To manage this expansion – which has also included recruitment for a growing number of chairs, trustees and executives – we have recently developed our website and are planning to host more charity events over the coming years. We have plans and we want to continue moving forward at a pace to serve the voluntary sector as best we can.

The changing landscape of headhunting

Attracting and retaining top talent for executive-level roles is not always easy. Appropriate and thorough onboarding is essential and, with low unemployment in the UK, this has meant the supply of high level candidates is reduced. Digital communication is now very much the norm for the sector – so we have to maximise our exposure in that regard to ensure we remain competitive in the marketplace.

it’s also challenging to ensure that clients accept that offering flexible working is now the name of the game when it comes to attracting the best people. Many candidates now want the option to work part-time or from home so client flexibility is an absolute must. This feeds back

into our commitment to honesty – clients may not want quite such a significant compromise, but we feel a responsibility to advise them on the marketplace, to ensure a successful outcome for everyone.

Alongside the ever-increasing complex requirements with the emergence of hiring policies and budget restrictions across the sector, the landscape is changing with regards to new legislation.

The natural choice

Above all, however, we are confident about our future. We look forward to expanding further and working with an ever-growing number of charities and candidates to ensure that we address staffing needs across every area of the sector.

Using a combination of our specialist approach, consultative work and outstanding flexibility, we have placed hundreds of successful candidates in the not-for-profit sector over the past 17 years, and we look forward to continuing to do so. We don’t just believe that we’re the natural choice for recruitment in the charity sector – we know we are.

We look forward to expanding further and working with an ever-growing number of charities and candidates

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“Supporting charities throughout the UK