Project: Creation Of Auto Enrolment Team/Department – 21 roles
Client: Mid Sized Employee Benefits Consultancy (FTE : 70 employees)
P&C Available on request
Timeframe: 12 Weeks
Jenson Fisher were retaining by a mid-sized EBC to recruit the entire division for a newly created Auto Enrolment department, from top to bottom. The organisation created their own product for the market, which was designed, implemented and managed by the new division. Jenson Fisher were awarded this project due to its position in the recruitment market within the Pensions industry, the client needed to have a partner who knew the market, but could also carry out the recruitment professionally and represent them accurately. This was a key expansion growth for the client which was of high cost in relation to company size and core to their development.
We as a company always ensure we work closely with the client to gain full understanding of the remit, structure, environment, position and focus of the role, this enables us to fully understand the requirement.
We had a time frame of 12 weeks for all roles
The Remit:
• 8 x Business Development Managers nationwide
• Compliance Manager with G60
• Admin Manager
• Financial Controller- FS Background
• Marketing Head- Auto Enrolment
• Head Of Digital Marketing - Auto Enrolment
• 4 x Implementation Consultants - Auto Enrolment
• 4 X Pension Administrators
Business Development Managers
Two consultants focused on the remit, we commenced by identifying potential candidates through researching the market, networking, using online tools to create a list of approachable individuals based on the given criteria from the client. We also discreetly advertised the role but we generally find searching the passive market is hugely more successful for the more senior roles and a mixture of advertising and targeting the passive massive gives success in the more common roles.
We had a time frame of 12 weeks for all roles, due to our links into the market with advisors and distributors along with our tools aligned for research in this market , gained through many years’ experience, we worked each region, approaching the targeted individuals until we had a minimum of 3 candidates appropriate for the roles, based on the criteria and vetted further through conversation and questioning through our knowledge. Ensuring they did not only have the relevant experience but the personality and drive to suit the clients' needs.
We needed to identify and then target companies on the EB market in all guises who may have experience in the AE market- providers, distributors, specialist software providers and even accountants for the Business Development Managers, preferably with good contacts in the IFA/EB space where they can sign them up to use the product, others were going direct to market so we had to find a mixture of the two but both capable of presenting and selling with a strong knowledge of AE and its mechanics.
We also advertised in each region, in specific, industry publications such as professional pensions and Pension careers. The main success came from direct approaches and names on our database, but we did have limited success through advertising.
Head of Digital Marketing and Financial Controller
We used a more targeted strategy as there were many FS companies around the region, we did advertise but had no success. Again we targeted relevant companies in a discreet manner to identify and discuss the opportunity, identified the most suitable candidates and presented the best 3 for each role
Admin Manager, Implementation Consultants , Administrators
For these roles, it was more role reversal, we had success through advertising and very limited direct approaches required more towards the latter end of the recruitment when 1/2 roles remained. It was a different process this time, we had to vet the cv’s which were numerous, conduct a lot more vetting phone calls for all the cv’s we received to determine the most suitable. Using our knowledge of the client and our formulated key skills document for the roles, we created our shortlists. Only latterly did we have to go and "find" other candidates from our resources.
The client had requested that we set up an interview date in each region for the Business Development managers as these were nationwide, the remainder of the roles were in South London at their head office where there was more flexibility in times/dates for interview.
All roles required experience in Financial Services and more importantly Auto Enrolment, so we had to be very specific in our search and questioning to each candidate on their experience to date and technical knowledge of Auto Enrolment.
For each role and each candidate found, we conducted a thorough phone or personal interview based on the criteria for the specific role and suitability for the client. Once we were satisfied with the candidate's suitability, we then added them to the shortlist for the appropriate role before finally presenting them in sets for each role.
Throughout the interview process, we constantly managed the process, identifying any potential issues as early as possible to manage expectations for both parties and ensure an efficient process and high success rate in interviews held to job offers.
Result
Jenson Fisher we managed the offer process, resignation process and recruited all 21 roles within the 12 week time frame, and gave post placement follow up to both clients and candidates.
