Case studies
Save the Children UK
Roles
- Permanent Tax Manager
- Permanent Finance Business Partner x 2
- Interim Finance Business Partner
- Permanent Financial Reporting Analyst
Client profile
Save the Children is a global movement made up of national member organisations. The UK is the oldest and one of the biggest members. They are an organisation that raises funds for their global work and advocate for children internationally and in Britain. Save the Children UK supports children to learn, grow and become who they want to be.
Assignment
Robertson Bell has been working with Save the Children UK for several years, completing a series of successful campaigns and fulfilling all required positions within its finance team.
During this time, our consultants have worked with our contact at the organisation to place a number of roles to support the organisation through busy periods. Robertson Bell is pleased to have a strong relationship with Save The Children UK, and to be a preferred supplier and agency of choice for every finance recruitment campaign.
The strong relationship between Robertson Bell and the client helped to efficiently recruit a range of both permanent and interim positions in the organisation.
Considerations and challenges
Although every assignment comes with its own demands, they each have several common challenges which our team have successfully overcome:
- Attracting qualified, high-calibre talent with charity experience in a highly competitive employment marketplace whereby commercial firms will offer significantly higher salaries.
- Many candidates are feeling hesitant about moving role in the current climate and so engaging with the passive part of the market posed a challenge.
- There is a perceived lack of career development opportunities in the not-for-profit sector amongst ambitious, commercially astute finance professionals – particularly amongst the very highest calibre candidates – yet Save The Children UK has a strong focus on progression and employee benefits.
- The candidate market is saturated, and significant time needs to be taken to select the very best talent
Solution
Save The Children UK’s strong brand enabled Robertson Bell to create a compelling EVP (employer value proposition) that proved highly effective in overcoming perceived negative preconceptions about charity sector career opportunities.
Our consultants spent a significant amount of time with the charity to create a campaign that was aligned with very specific requirements of the roles they were recruiting for.
In addition to a deep database search and highly targeted advertising campaigns, our consultants invested significant energy reaching out across their networks, leveraging impressive connectivity to generate far-reaching word-of-mouth. This enabled us to attract both active and passive job seekers, ensuring we were able to identify the best talent for every job role.
By working closely with Save The Children UK over several years, our consultants have developed a deep understanding of the organisation’s unique demands. This ensures we present only those candidates whose skills and experience are closely aligned with role requirements. Through our rigorous selection processes, we relieved much of the burden from busy hiring managers by generating strong interest in the roles and presenting condensed, high-quality shortlists for each vacancy.
Outcome
The targeted campaigns for each of the roles in our work to date with Save The Children UK drew in a significant number of high-quality responses. The final shortlist that we presented to the client for each position was comprised of professionals sourced through existing candidate pools, LinkedIn, applications and internal recommendations.
The value of working with a recruitment specialist was demonstrated particularly well here, as our consultants were able to delve deep into their networks and talent pipelines to engage with and secure the best talent for each assignment. In fact, our consultants had to turn down a number of high-calibre, appointable candidates as the competition was incredibly strong.
Robertson Bell truly understand what a good fit looks like depending on the needs and requirements presented by an organisation. The candidate market continues to remain saturated, and our consultants have a high-level of understanding and the correct skills to engage with and explore talent pools to recommend the right person for the role.
Each assignment that Robertson Bell has worked on with Save The Children has seen success at every stage of the process, and we are delighted to be the agency of choice for all finance recruitment campaigns in the organisation.