THE CLIENT
Grant Thornton is the world's fifth largest professional services network of independent taxation accounting and consulting member firms which provide assurance, tax and advisory services to privately held businesses, public interest entities, and public sector entities.
THE CHALLENGE
The recruitment team in Birmingham reached out to Jennifer at Pro-Tax as they had some challenges with finding an Investigations Manager to sit within the wider tax team. They were very close to securing an individual from HMRC who had multiple interviews across the top 10 in Birmingham but struggled with matching an above market salary package that the candidate was eventually offered. Due to the fact that investigations is very much a niche area and the Birmingham market is very incestuous, active candidates are few and far between. At the time the role went live 3 of the big 4 and 3 of the wider Top 10 were also looking to secure an individual with the same profile so a very competitive field. The recruitment team reached out a number of specialist tax recruitment agencies and approached candidates directly after the first offer was declined to no avail.
OUR SOLUTION
After meeting with the internal recruitment team we discussed various options to resolve this and other challenging assignment pieces in Birmingham. As they had reached out to other agencies, we were unable to offer a retained search. What we could do (after reaching out to active candidates in our database) was to start targeting passive candidates by mapping the Birmingham Investigations market. This didn’t result in any success for the short term. However, after seeing one of our adverts, Dane Skiba an Investigations Manager from HMRC who had received a great testimonial about Pro-Tax through a colleague reached out and happened to have a perfect background for the role specification.
THE RESULT
After talking to Dane it was clear that his skills in HMRC were very transferable and it was just a case of a consultant and practice to invest in him. We spoke with the recruitment team at GT and after explaining his great skill set and work ethic, we agreed to arrange an informal conversation with the Tax Partner for Birmingham. After meeting him on the first round it was clear that Dane had really impressed, and the process quickly progressed to a final meeting before offering him the role at a very competitive salary package.
FOLLOW UP
Dane is going from strength to strength in the department and the feedback has been great from all that work with him. Individuals often find it difficult making the transition from revenue to practice but he has adapted superbly and made a real impact in the team. “Jen was excellent, totally took the stress out of the recruitment process, so I could get on with the day job. She was very organised and always called me back, great at interview stage talked me through what to expect and helped to negotiate at offer stage. Definitely will recommend to others at HMRC” - Dane Skiba, Investigations Manager at Grant Thornton.
