Case studies

Marie Curie

Charity

Roles

• Financial Accountant

• Finance Officer

• Accountants Payable Assistant

Client Profile

Marie Curie is one of the UK’s largest charities, founded in 1948, providing care and support services to over 40,000 terminally ill people and their families, each year. At present, they provide the largest number of hospice beds, outside of the NHS, across their nine sites employing over 2,700 nurses and doctors, amongst other healthcare professionals who offer  frontline support, alongside a free support service and a wealth of further information.

Marie Curie also facilitate conversations around the topic of bereavement and campaign for changes that ensure those effected by terminal illness receive the care and support that they want and need.

Assignment

In late November 2021, Marie Curie reached out to Robertson Bell regarding two critical vacancies in their finance team which needed filling on an interim basis as a matter of urgency. Robertson Bell had worked with Marie Curie previously, building a strong relationship in that time and instilling a level of trust that meant we were their first port of call for this recruitment.

The initial and most urgent requirement was a Financial Accountant position; an additional resource following the recent implementation of a new Oracle ERP system, required to support the charity in the lead up to year end and ensure the integrity of financial information within their accounts and system.

The second requirement was that of a Finance Officer, a position that required candidates with the confidence and capability to hit the ground running in a fast-paced environment during a challenging period in the finance calendar.

The third role, an Accounts Payable Assistant, required a combination of strong Accounts Payable experience and a sound working knowledge of Oracle ERP Systems.   

For each of these vacancies, the hiring manager was not only looking to secure the right technical expertise and experience, but also the right attitude and approach to work, which would ultimately add value to the team and organisations culture.

Considerations and challenges

An assignment immediately preceding the Christmas period is always a challenge, due to the typical unavailability of candidates and tight timeframes to get candidates started before the festive break. However, the team were intent on using all of the tools at their disposal to ensure that Marie Curie’s requirements were met for the Financial Accountant and Finance Officer roles.

Due to the specific requirements needed for the Accounts Payable Assistant role, it took time for the consultants to drill down and understand exactly how the client worked and finance team functioned. This process was critical to ensure the Robertson Bell team could gleam the information needed to bring forward candidates who were the best fit for the client’s requirements.

Ensuring that all of the candidates had the right attributes to complement and develop the existing finance team, alongside the necessary level of technical knowledge to hit the ground running was top priority across the board.

In addition, the busy nature of the jobs market meant the team had to negotiate tough competition for candidates who were commonly considering numerous opportunities at any one time and required careful management throughout the recruitment process.