How to recruit non-execs successfully: a case study
This is the first blog post of two on the topic of ‘non-executive’ recruitment.
Recently, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) engaged FJWilson to search for two independent members to join the RIBA’s Audit & Risk Committee. These were unremunerated positions.
In this post -- the first in a two part series on ‘non-executive’ recruitment --- Karen Haynes talks to Carl Straw, the RIBA’s Director of HR, to learn why he employs search agencies, why he chose FJWilson for RIBA’s assignment, and how the search worked out.
Karen: What, for you, are the benefits of working with a search agency to attract candidates for this type of senior, unpaid post?
Carl: We use a trusted search agency for their ability to find a greater number and potentially wider range of high-quality candidates than the organisation would otherwise attract.
To target the right people, the agency should understand the make-up of the Committee and what would complement and add to its strengths.
A good agency does a lot of the leg work for the organisation – not just in finding candidates and gaining their initial interest but also in screening and briefing them on behalf of the organisation and keeping them engaged throughout the selection process.
Karen: Some agencies specialise in non-executive recruitment in particular, but across different sectors. In contrast, FJWilson specialises in the membership organisation sector in particular, across senior vacancies in general. What guided your choice of agency in this instance?
Carl: These are very senior roles, so it’s vital to engage an agency in which you have confidence. I’ve worked with Fiona at FJWilson for a number of years and very much like her approach – it reflects and complements our own.
Fiona combines a deep knowledge of the market with a progressive approach to diversity and inclusion – that’s very much in line with how the RIBA wants to operate.
It also really helped that Fiona had worked with the RIBA before. She knows the organisation very well: how it is structured and governed; how it operates as a membership organisation.
We had a lot more confidence in her going out to present the organisation to prospective candidates than we would someone new who’d only had a half-hour briefing call with us.
Fiona’s knowledge of our organisation meant she understood immediately the kind of candidates the RIBA was looking for in terms of their career stage and the kinds of roles they would be interested in, as well as the types of added value the RIBA wanted audit committee candidates to offer.
We select agencies based on their strengths in different areas. On another occasion, for a different committee, we found independent members through a specialist non-executive agency. That also worked very well. Both FJWilson and the other agency did a great job. It’s good to use different agencies for different committees for a balanced approach.
Karen: The timeframe for the search, including screening and briefing candidates was 18 working days. It’s interesting that the charging model you chose was time-based rather than the more common fixed-fee arrangement.
Carl: When selecting an agency we look for flexibility – that they’re not rigid about their charging model. It’s important that agencies are able to adapt to the circumstances of different recruitment campaigns.
Karen: And how did the search stage go?
Carl: Very well. One thing I particularly like about working with Fiona is how she builds in various check points, so you get a great sense of how things are progressing – through personal, continued contact.
Fiona took the weight off our shoulders in finding an interesting range of excellent candidates. This wasn’t a totally predictable list: she gave us a bit of a mix, with some stand-out candidates and other candidates that could bring something slightly different.
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Recently, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) engaged FJWilson to search for two independent members to join the RIBA’s Audit & Risk Committee. These were unremunerated positions.
In this post -- the first in a two part series on ‘non-executive’ recruitment --- Karen Haynes talks to Carl Straw, the RIBA’s Director of HR, to learn why he employs search agencies, why he chose FJWilson for RIBA’s assignment, and how the search worked out.
Karen: What, for you, are the benefits of working with a search agency to attract candidates for this type of senior, unpaid post?
Carl: We use a trusted search agency for their ability to find a greater number and potentially wider range of high-quality candidates than the organisation would otherwise attract.
To target the right people, the agency should understand the make-up of the Committee and what would complement and add to its strengths.
A good agency does a lot of the leg work for the organisation – not just in finding candidates and gaining their initial interest but also in screening and briefing them on behalf of the organisation and keeping them engaged throughout the selection process.
Karen: Some agencies specialise in non-executive recruitment in particular, but across different sectors. In contrast, FJWilson specialises in the membership organisation sector in particular, across senior vacancies in general. What guided your choice of agency in this instance?
Carl: These are very senior roles, so it’s vital to engage an agency in which you have confidence. I’ve worked with Fiona at FJWilson for a number of years and very much like her approach – it reflects and complements our own.
Fiona combines a deep knowledge of the market with a progressive approach to diversity and inclusion – that’s very much in line with how the RIBA wants to operate.
It also really helped that Fiona had worked with the RIBA before. She knows the organisation very well: how it is structured and governed; how it operates as a membership organisation.
We had a lot more confidence in her going out to present the organisation to prospective candidates than we would someone new who’d only had a half-hour briefing call with us.
Fiona’s knowledge of our organisation meant she understood immediately the kind of candidates the RIBA was looking for in terms of their career stage and the kinds of roles they would be interested in, as well as the types of added value the RIBA wanted audit committee candidates to offer.
We select agencies based on their strengths in different areas. On another occasion, for a different committee, we found independent members through a specialist non-executive agency. That also worked very well. Both FJWilson and the other agency did a great job. It’s good to use different agencies for different committees for a balanced approach.
Karen: The timeframe for the search, including screening and briefing candidates was 18 working days. It’s interesting that the charging model you chose was time-based rather than the more common fixed-fee arrangement.
Carl: When selecting an agency we look for flexibility – that they’re not rigid about their charging model. It’s important that agencies are able to adapt to the circumstances of different recruitment campaigns.
Karen: And how did the search stage go?
Carl: Very well. One thing I particularly like about working with Fiona is how she builds in various check points, so you get a great sense of how things are progressing – through personal, continued contact.
Fiona took the weight off our shoulders in finding an interesting range of excellent candidates. This wasn’t a totally predictable list: she gave us a bit of a mix, with some stand-out candidates and other candidates that could bring something slightly different.