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Senior recruitment: a whole new ball game
WHITE PAPER
Page 3
Introduction
Page 4
A new breed of leader
Page 6
What does the future hold?
Page 8
Passive candidates - the holy grail
Page 10
The SmartSearch solution
Public sector organisations in the UK operate today in an entirely different climate to even just a few years ago. They are faced with a whole new set of challenges when it comes to achieving their goals and securing a sustainable future.
One of the most significant challenges faced, and the biggest barrier to desired achievement, is an ever-tightening budget. Increased cuts within the public sector are no secret and are set to continue over the coming years. Organisations are left to solve the riddle: how do you achieve more with fewer resources at your disposal?
At the same time, adopting an effective digital presence is becoming a growing issue. A large number of our clients have an increased awareness of the need to ‘join the 21st century’, with this becoming more and more urgent as the demand for digital services grows. The effectiveness, or otherwise, of an organisation’s digital presence impacts on service users, employees and potential employees’ perception and opinion.
Aligned to digitisation is another ‘hot topic’: how the public sector can ‘future-proof’ itself. With ageing workforces and an inability to attract a younger generation widely reported across the sector, a number of employers are becoming increasingly nervous about what the future holds. It is at times like these that effective leadership is an essential asset.
When faced with unfamiliar challenges, organisations need to be flexible, proactive and innovative. They are required to enter periods of significant change, successfully transforming the way that they deliver their services, communicate with users, and attract and recruit new staff.
For most, challenges like these are unfamiliar ground, which often require a skillset amongst leaders that does not yet exist in their organisation. This is particularly the case where public sector employers find themselves with a rapidly growing need for commercial focus in order to ensure their survival. At this point, efficient senior recruitment becomes an absolute necessity. Put simply, it must target the best talent and do so in a way that is achievable within tightening financial constraints.
Senior recruitment: a whole new ball game
•Traditional headhunters are •
•notoriously expensive and at•
•a time when every penny counts,•
•most in the public sector•
•can’t justify the cost•
A new breed of leaderFor a long time, the secret to effective senior recruitment lay within the little black books of executive headhunters. Those with the most relevant contacts would come out on top when it came to successfully recruiting to senior and executive roles.
The way in which the public sector has changed, and especially the shifting needs of most organisations, has had an impact on senior recruitment.
The most significant factor is tightening budgets. Traditional headhunters are notoriously expensive and at a time when every penny spent comes under scrutiny, most public sector organisations simply can’t justify the cost.
Along with the sector itself, leadership within the public sector has changed significantly too. Tighter budgets and changing needs have led to a number of new roles being created. These roles will often be an amalgamation of two, or even more, existing roles; combining roles is often seen as a cost-effective solution to the headaches that come with managing a shrinking budget.
However, this creates a whole new challenge: a role that has never previously existed will often require a candidate with a completely different skillset to those who may have filled the individual positions that existed previously. Whereas traditional public sector headhunters would have made light work of filling these roles, being faced with a whole new set of requirements that can’t be found in the pages of their little black books can prove incredibly problematic.
A new breed of leader
Another trend from recent years has been the increasing number of authorities opting for shared services and joint ventures. Organisations have reaped great success by utilising a wider set of resources after joining forces. This presents a new challenge: these joint services require leadership on a grander scale as they serve a larger user base, sometimes significantly so. Effective leadership on this scale requires more experience and potentially a much wider skillset than that needed for the same service within a single authority.
When looking for a new breed of leader, capable of effectively tackling these new challenges, organisations have to think differently. Not only are they faced with finding the candidates to fit these new roles, but also the task of attracting them to the vacancy, and the organisation itself.
Public sector organisations are increasingly looking to the private sector to find candidates with the required skills, but tempting them away can be an enormous task. This is especially the case when looking for candidates with a more commercial focus - an attribute that has not previously been in demand is inevitably one in short supply within the sector.
With public sector salaries notoriously lower than their private sector counterparts, organisations need to find new ways to make these roles attractive enough to tempt candidates away from their current positions. If employers are unable to provide a higher salary, then investment can be demonstrated in other ways. Offering comprehensive training, flexible and agile working, superior pension schemes, enhanced holiday entitlements and other family-friendly policies, can all be seen as incredibly attractive incentives for someone entering a new role within a new sector. Help with relocation costs is also a great way of investing in your new employees.
•When looking for a new breed of leader, capable of •
•effectively tackling challenges, organisations are •
•being required to think differently.•
What does the future hold? As previously mentioned, councils and other public sector organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the need to update their service delivery through digitisation. At the same time, organisations need to look creatively at how they can reduce costs through the services they procure, seeking out digital and more cost-effective providers. For many back office services such as HR, finance, legal and procurement, their ability to do this successfully will help demonstrate their value to their organisations.
The demand for digital services is consequently great and those that are unable to offer them will find themselves being seen as outdated and eventually obsolete. This is not only significant in terms of ‘customer’, or service user, satisfaction but also with your reputation amongst potential and existing employees. If your competitors are offering something that you can’t, how can you expect to compete with them?
A key concern at the moment is the challenge faced in ‘future-proofing’ public sector organisations. How do you go about attracting younger leaders into your organisations? This is something that is becoming increasingly urgent, as many report being faced with an ageing workforce in dire need of rejuvenation.
•The demand for digital•
•services is great and those•
•unable to offer them will•
•find themselves seen as•
•outdated and eventually•
•obsolete•
What does the future hold?
Part of the reason this is quite so challenging is that public sector organisations find it difficult to compete against the lure of the more ‘glamorous’ private sector. There is also a general consensus amongst employers that some of the best young talent have a skewed view of the public sector, making it difficult to convince them of the viability or prosperousness of pursuing a career within the sector.
An ageing workforce combined with an inability to attract younger talent is a combination that keeps public sector employers awake at night. At this point it is absolutely essential that any factors that might be contributing to an image of being outdated or out of touch are immediately addressed.
Effective digitisation of service delivery - and the way you interact with your customers and potential employees - is key. We live and work in a digital age and organisations that are unable to operate within it will be quickly branded as archaic. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix in these situations. Organisations must embrace periods of significant transformation and, most importantly, will require highly engaged leadership to drive it.
This highlights the role that senior recruitment can play in future-proofing your organisation: a leader who is able to effectively promote and drive change can be crucial to the survival of your organisation. The effective transition into a fully digital organisation will boost your ability to attract the best talent, including younger candidates. This will subsequently allow you to rejuvenate your workforce and make digital services more sustainable, significantly boosting your brand.
•An inability to attract younger talent is keeping public•
•sector employers awake at night. It is absolutely•
•essential that any factors that appear outdated or out•
•of touch are immediately addressed.•
Passive candidates - the holy grail In an ideal world, where life was nice and simple, all that would be required for senior recruitment would be posting an advert. A number of applications would then flood in from active candidates with exactly the right skills and experience.
As bleak as it may sound, a perfect world this is not. An over-reliance on active candidates significantly restricts the pool of applicants available to you. This is especially problematic when looking for people with a very particular skillset, as discussed above.
It has also been widely reported that the UK job market has transitioned into one driven by candidates, rather than employers. This is the result of a greater number of available vacancies than active candidates. In a job market such as this, a reliance on active candidates becomes a significantly more misguided endeavour.
A passive candidate is one who may not be actively searching for a new position, but could be tempted by the right opportunity if it were presented to them. Passive candidates have quickly become the holy grail of modern recruitment as, providing you can find them, they allow employers to side-step the melee that is taking place as multiple employers duke it out for the shrinking pool of active job seekers.
A method for targeting passive candidates that has significantly emerged in recent years is a twist on an old classic. Online search methods have become increasingly effective in conjunction with the continuous rise of platforms such as LinkedIn. This allows employers to directly contact potential candidates whose profiles match the job description and person specification for a particular vacancy. Many might consider this to be an intrusive approach - however a recent Jobsgopublic study revealed that only 4% of candidates would prefer not to be contacted directly about a potential
PASSIVE CANDIDATES: THE FACTS
JUST 4%
of candidates don’t want to be contacted directly about opportunities 4+96+K77% BROWSE
job sites even when they’re not actively looking for a job 77+23+K90% OF SENIOR
candidates will only read a job advert if it’s placed directly in front of them 77+23+KTHE BEST TIME
to contact candidates based on email open rates
6PMSUNDAY
employer or relevant vacancy. In an increasingly digital age, candidates have accepted that approaches like this have become social norms.
An interesting development we have observed in recent years is the blurring of the previously distinct lines between active and passive candidates. Historically it has been a straightforward distinction; however, the increase in digital communications now allows passive candidates to remain informed of current opportunities, making the definitions
more complex. This has been significantly bolstered by the rise of social media and the ease of email marketing, both of which provide a new level of simplicity when it comes to staying up-to-date with new opportunities.
Targeting passive candidates should be an integral part of your recruitment strategy. This of course throws a whole new set of questions into the mix: where are these lovely passive candidates? Where do they hang out? How do I make them want me as much as I want them?
It has also been widely reported.
that the UK job market is now.
driven by the candidate, rather.
than the employer. In a job.
market such as this, a reliance.
on active candidates becomes.
a significantly more misguided.
endeavour..
The SmartSearch solution
SmartSearch is Jobsgopublic’s contemporary, bespoke executive resourcing service, specialising in senior and hard-to-fill roles.
In the same way Jobsgopublic first came onto the market to offer the public sector an affordable digital alternative to costly press advertising, SmartSearch is committed to doing the same for senior recruitment.
Launched 4 years ago, SmartSearch demonstrates considerable flair in attracting a stronger field of candidates than more traditional approaches, for a diverse range of roles in the public sector. These include specialist and hard-to-fill roles from middle management (c£40k) up to Chief Executive. Typically, SmartSearch reduces recruitment costs by 40-50% and, at the same time, increases the number of suitable applicants.
SmartSearch combines sophisticated online search and digital attraction methods to secure applications from candidates who precisely match a specific brief. The approach, which targets both active and passive candidates, has seen huge successes with some incredibly challenging briefs and boasts a 95% appointment rate.
The secret to SmartSearch’s success is in no small part down to the expertise of the team: resourcing specialists with considerable experience at a senior level in the public sector work alongside some of the industry’s top digital search specialists. This, together with Jobsgopublic’s relentless drive to understand as much about the modern job seeker as possible, has created a whole new approach to senior recruitment. The results speak for themselves.
SmartSearch recognises the considerable pressure that HR services and recruiting managers are under, ensuring that all applicants undergo a detailed assessment. This includes assessing application forms against the pre-determined criteria for the post and telephone interviews in order to produce a high-quality shortlist.
With client satisfaction a number one priority with every campaign, the SmartSearch team are tireless in their determination to find exactly the right candidates for each role.
.“We had been aware of the SmartSearch offer by Jobsgopublic for some time but.
.had not had the opportunity to try the service until a role came up for an Assistant.
.Director role as Head of Children’s Social Work & Early Intervention. We had tried.
.to fill this role approximately 12 months’ previously, unsuccessfully via Executive.
.search and the Director of Children’s Services was receptive to trying something.
.different this time. The Jobsgopublic team responded to our enquiry with the.
.sense of urgency and commitment we required and were able to convert our brief.
.into an engaging advert and microsite. We moved from brief to full-on campaign in.
.2 ½ weeks. As a result of this campaign we had 16 applications, 7 of which were.
.suitable for longlist interview and from that we were able to shortlist 4 candidates,.
.unprecedented numbers based on previous experience with similar roles.”.
.HR Manager, Wokingham Borough Council.
.“When Tandridge DC needed to appoint a new Chief Executive the decision was.
.taken to use the SmartSearch as it was excellent value for money. Smartsearch.
.used targeted advertising and also tapped into their extensive candidate network..
.The process elicited 37 applicants, from which we were able to shortlist 6 high.calibre.
.candidates and successfully appoint. We were advised and supported.throughout.
.the process and were delighted with the outcome. We would have.no hesitation in using.
.SmartSearch again for any similar senior role or recommending.it to others.”.
.Head of Personnel and Training, Tandridge District Council.
.“Jobsgopublic took a new and contemporary approach to attracting the right candidates.
.from a mix of sectors and professional backgrounds. This was reflected in the strong field.
.of applications received for this campaign despite a lower salary and challenging time for.
.the children’s service. I strongly believe this is due to Jobsgopublic’s digital search.
.strategy, which was able to cast a wider net than methods used by traditional search.
.consultancies, which often draw on the same pool of candidates. We were very pleased.
.with the shortlist and as a result have appointed an outstanding candidate.”.
.Assistant Director HR, Birmingham City Council.
