THE CLIENT
In October 2018 likeminded housing associations Metropolitan and Thames Valley Housing formally completed a partnership to form Metropolitan Thames Valley. Metropolitan Thames Valley provides housing at different levels of affordability for people living in London, the South East, East Midlands and East of England. They also offer a range of care and support services. Their specialist areas include older people, mental health and transitional services which provide intensive support to marginalised or vulnerable people. They deliver training programmes, events and activities for residents, designed to boost employment opportunities and foster stronger communities. A member of the National Housing Federation and the g15 – which represents London’s largest housing associations – Metropolitan Thames Valley are building more homes to address the national shortage of affordable housing.
THE CHALLENGE
After successfully securing an interim Group Benefits & Reward Manager for the organisation last year, Sandra Segal (Recruitment Business Partner) reached out to Pro-NFP to help them with the hard task of finding a permanent replacement. This person’s key responsibility was to look at the current structure and working closely with the Executive Director, align the reward strategy to the evolving needs of the organisation strategy and culture, ensuring that reward is a key driver of the behaviours required for the organisation to move forward. The main challenge of the role was finding someone within the salary banding – reward is a discipline that is saturated with interims and this role required a permanent candidate between the £50,000 - £60,000 mark, which was always going to be an uphill task given the experience required. We would also need a candidate that was happy to go in and work on what was pretty much a blank canvas and someone that could get to their offices in North London, as Southgate is a difficult location for some.
OUR SOLUTION
After placing a Reward interim into the organisation last year, we spoke to our candidate and asked what her thoughts were on the role and what the perfect person would look like. We also set up a briefing call with the Head of HR Shared Services (hiring manager) to discuss timelines and what she was looking for on the CV.
THE RESULT
The search was a tough one and required us to do a thorough search via job boards, LinkedIn and ask for recommendations from our current Reward network. We managed to secure two excellent candidates for the role who had a blend of operational and strategic experience (exactly what MTV wanted) - we sent both across to the hiring manager and booked in time to go through feedback, giving our thoughts on why the candidates were put forward and to answer any questions she had regarding their experience or softer skills. Both candidates were asked to go through an initial telephone screening, which they both passed with flying colours. They were then both invited to a second and final stage interview the following week. One was offered the same day. "Pro-NFP provided great insight into the company, its developing structure, the role itself and culture prior to interview which proved invaluable during this process. Their communications and follow up after the initial interview kept us on track and through to successful offer. I have no hesitation in recommending Pro-NFP." - Elaine Satterly, Group Reward and Benefits Manager at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing.
