Case studies
Habinteg Housing Association
Roles
Capital and Treasury Accountant - permanent
Transactions Team Leader- permanent
Client profile
Habinteg Housing Association builds and promotes accessible homes and communities. Operating in 80 local authority regions across England and Wales, the organisation owns and manages more than 3,300 homes – providing tailored housing and support to allow those with disabilities to live in an inclusive setting and maintain independence, choice and control over their daily lives.
Assignment
In August 2019, Habinteg’s Director of Finance & Resources tasked Robertson Bell with recruiting two permanent positions:
- 1 x Capital and Treasury Accountant (£50k)
- 1 x Transactions Team Leader (£38k)
Considerations and challenges
In larger organisations, responsibility for Capital and Treasury is generally split across two roles, so this limits the size of the talent pool with appropriate experience in both areas.
- Remuneration package was up to £15k behind market level for high-calibre candidates with strong experience in both disciplines.
- Due to the complex nature of the existing Transactions Team, Habinteg sought candidates with strong leadership experience for the Team Leader role. Yet many candidates with sufficient experience had higher salary expectations.
- A strong preference for candidates with good exposure to the housing sector further limited the size of the potential candidate pool.
Solution
Our in-house database of almost 100K professionals in the Public and Not-for-Profit sectors yielded many promising candidates, and our initial search was augmented by access to high-value third-party databases.
We created a promotional video to boost exposure on LinkedIn, which strongly prioritises video content, and we carried out a far-reaching headhunt campaign to reach passive, hard-to-find talent with appropriate skills and experience.
We also deployed Capture software to send personalised video introductions to candidates, strengthening our approach to in-demand professionals who receive frequent contacts from other recruiters.
Anticipating strong interest in the opportunities, we deployed our In-Sight video interviewing technology to expedite early-stage selection and quickly create high-quality candidate short-lists.
Outcome
We received a total of 65 applications across both roles, and our consultants engaged with a further 100+ experienced candidates via our headhunt campaign. After initial in-house screening, we conducted ten video interviews for each role, based on the clearly defined template provided by Habinteg.
We then submitted a shortlist of 14 candidates, and the Director of Finance & Resources and the Head of Finance used our video assets to select seven candidates for face-to-face interview.
Successful appointments were made after one round of face-to-face interviews, and both candidates passed their 6-month probations.