Industry: Government & Public Sector
Professional Search: Sourcing a Transformational Leader in Public Healthcare
1
senior role with specialist requirements
170
+
candidates
8
weeks from project brief to offer acceptance
Situation
A prominent public healthcare organization in the UK faced a critical leadership transition. The role of Chief Executive & General Secretary, which had been filled by an interim leader for three years, needed to be permanently filled when the interim moved on. This transition coincided with the UK general election, meaning the new leader would need to lead the organization through both internal and external change.
Key challenges for the organization included:
- The need for a candidate with dual qualifications: a registered medical professional with senior executive leadership experience—a unique and hard-to-find individual.
- A healthcare sector in flux, dealing with post-COVID-19 challenges, a struggling NHS, and pay disputes and strikes amongst healthcare professionals
- The organization required significant modernization, particularly in HR systems and pay structures.
The healthcare organization turned to Apex by PeopleScout to find an individual with the right medical qualifications who was also prepared to lead through a period of political transition and tackle significant organizational challenges.
Solution
Our dual approach, combined with close client collaboration, enabled us to overcome significant challenges and secure top talent in a competitive market.
- Proactive Sourcing: We conducted a wide-ranging search across the UK and Ireland, targeting leaders with medical qualifications from various healthcare institutions, governing bodies and membership organizations. In total, we approached over 150 potential candidates through proactive sourcing.
- External Media Campaign: In addition to sourcing, we designed and placed advertisements for the role in relevant industry publications. Applications generated by these ads brought our total talent pool for the role to over 170 candidates.
To create a fair and open process, we created a landing page through which all candidates were required to apply. Thus, we ensured each candidate had the same recruitment experience according to government and public sector recruitment best practices.
Throughout the process, we held regular feedback sessions with the client to share market insights gathered during the search. We provided recommendations to help the client maximize the success of this campaign.
Results
Following a rigorous selection process, we shortlisted four candidates from the 170+ the campaign generated. The client chose three candidates to take through to the interview stages. Ultimately, a highly qualified candidate, with the required nursing qualifications and executive leadership experience, was placed in just eight weeks.
Professional Search: Finding a Strong Leader for a Complex Role in Local Government
Situation
A local council in the UK were seeking a Director of Law & Governance. This was a prominent and complex role responsible for delivering legal and governance services, including a team of 100 employees across the council. This role would not only contribute to the direction of services across law and governance but also take part in the leadership group.
This role would also act as a monitoring officer, which is a legally mandated role within all local authorities in England. This individual ensures the council, its officers and its elected members meet their statutory obligations and act according to their codes of conduct.
With a monitoring officer in every council, the market was rich in opportunity to find individuals who had this experience at the director and deputy director level. The main challenge for this client was ensuring that the council found an individual who also had the leadership experience to transform the services into one seamless organization. They were looking for a senior leader who had previous experience driving innovation that made material difference to their organization and customers.
The search and selection depended on engaging candidates with the right blend of skills and experience—the technical skills of a monitoring officer with a track record of leading transformational change. The council turned to PeopleScout for our Apex senior professional hiring solution.
Solution
After taking a detailed brief with the Corporate Director and CEO of the council, the PeopleScout Apex team worked with the client to agree the parameters of the search and the timeline.
We supported the process by:
- Executing comprehensive, research-driven headhunting across the UK into relevant organizations in local government
- Delivering a full senior leadership assessment center, including engaging an expert in the field as a technical assessor, to provide a well-rounded view of each candidate shortlisted for the panel interview
- Hosting virtual interview via Microsoft Teams
- Developing tailored questions via our in-house occupational psychologists to support the final stage interview
- Creating in-depth reports for each candidate outlining strengths and risk areas in relation to the role
We delivered the whole process from end-to-end, meeting all deadlines and timelines as agreed at the kick off.
Results
Our nationwide search gave us a healthy pool of candidates to consider for the role. We submitted a shortlist of 12 candidates to the panel to review. Following this, we conducted five technical interviews along with personality assessments, providing the panel with reports on the strengths, development areas and technical capabilities of each candidate. Two candidates reached the final panel stage, both sourced by the PeopleScout Apex team, which led to a successful hire.
Professional Search: Sourcing a Transformative Leader to Boost Diversity in Schools
59
candidates proactively targeted
92
%
candidate engagement rate
3
stage recruitment process supported
Situation
When the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), the regulator for services for children and young people in England, revealed they would be implementing changes to their framework, our client, a local government agency in the UK, knew that the Director of Education and Skills position, which had been put on hold and filled by interim leaders for several years, needed to become a top priority.
The agency recognized there was a lack of teacher diversity which didn’t reflect the community. Plus, although progress had been made, there was still a need to focus on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). On top of these challenges, Good and Outstanding ratings from Ofsted had dropped.
To counter this, they were looking for a new director with SEND experience who could build relationships with education leaders to get the best out of the area’s diverse schools–putting social justice at the heart of the community while maintaining achievement and attainment.
The agency turned to PeopleScout for our Apex senior professional hiring solution.
Solution
The PeopleScout Apex team took an extensive brief from the Executive Director, benchmarked profiles to further refine our search and presented a target list of people to approach which the client approved. Alongside this outreach, PeopleScout processed all candidates generated through advertising using the same method as the proactively sourced candidates to ensure a fair and open process.
PeopleScout performed a first round of interviews, presenting the qualifying candidates to the client for consideration with a written report for each. We partnered with the client in the technical interview, providing comprehensive feedback and recommendations to inform the final shortlisting process. A PeopleScout Apex team member was also present at the final interviews to provide advice and guidance.
Results
Altogether, we identified and reached out to 59 potential candidates. Out of these 54 people engaged, resulting in a 92% engagement rate. Nine candidates were selected for the first stage of interviews with three proceeding to the final round. Ultimately, one hire was made.
- 59 candidates identified
- 54 engaged
- 9 interviewed at first stage
- 3 interviewed at second stage
“Thanks very much for all the support from PeopleScout for the recent recruitment of our Director of Education and Skills. We have been impressed with the quantity and caliber of candidates—which has been recognized by the selection committee. Thanks for an overall professional service.”
Head of Internal Communications & Organizational Development
Redeployment Revolution: AI-Driven Internal Mobility for an APAC Government Agency
66,000
+
employees empowered to find internal opportunities across 40 departments
800
employees within a healthcare department successfully redeployed
5,000
candidates added to talent pools
Situation
This federal government organization has been a PeopleScout client for more than ten years. Until recently, we served primarily as a talent technology partner—the client leveraged our total talent suite Affinix® to manage the job posting and application process for positions within their healthcare arm.
Because the government and public sector client had no visibility of the skills and talent across departments, talent scarcity issues—due to rapid technology advancements, widening skills gaps and shifting demographics—were exacerbated. Without a central view of the workforce, each department was managing their talent acquisition activities independently, some with the support of recruitment technology, and some without. Additionally, employees lacked visibility into cross-department opportunities with no easy way to explore openings.
To support an immediate need, the client asked PeopleScout to develop a redeployment solution within two weeks for 800 healthcare employees. In addition, they asked us to create a long-term internal mobility program to support ongoing talent initiatives.
Solution
PeopleScout’s Internal Mobility solution leverages AI to automatically match employees with open positions, tapping into a talent pool of qualified and engaged candidates to expedite hiring and create a culture of growth and retention. Leveraging their Affinix suite, we helped streamline the client’s internal sourcing processes and created a comprehensive view of employee skills and competencies to effectively redeploy 800 employees within the healthcare department.
We also developed an internal mobility portal to proactively support ongoing redeployment across the entire government organization, thereby creating a more agile workforce where employees can quickly and seamlessly be reassigned to areas of greatest need. Our custom solution included four key modules:
- Internal Career Portal: We created a Workforce Mobility Hub to support surge, temporary and long-term redeployments. This custom branded, user-friendly platform enables employees to search for cross-department opportunities, self-manage their professional profiles and sign up for custom job alerts.
- Employee Expression of Interest: Candidates who want to be considered for short- or long-term internal opportunities complete expression of interest forms, which automatically adds them to talent pools.
- AI Matching and Search: Affinix AI technology automatically searches the employee database to match candidates to roles based on their skills, experience and preferences. Hiring managers use our AI-talent matching tool to create talent pools of workers which they then target directly using automated email campaigns in Affinix. Since its inception, over 5,000 employees have been added to a talent pool.
- Skills-Based Assessments: Affinix integrates with best-in-breed screening and assessment platforms to evaluate employees’ skills and experience against the requirements of the role, ensuring candidate fit and promoting long-term career growth.
Results
Our tech-powered Internal Mobility solution successfully supported not only the redeployment of 800 healthcare employees, but it also supports ongoing internal mobility initiatives across the entire organization. In fact, we empower their 66,0000 full-time employees to mobilize across 40 departments, future-proofing the organization with a skilled and agile workforce.
At a Glance
- COMPANY
Federal government agency in APAC - INDUSTRY
Government & Public Sector - PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
Affinix - ANNUAL HIRES
66,000+ employees empowered with Internal Mobility, powered by Affinix®
Apex Professional Search for the UK Public Sector
Apex for the UK Public Sector
In the diverse landscape of public sector organisations, leadership needs are as varied as the communities you serve. Finding the right match demands a bespoke approach—one that places fair and open competition at its core.
That’s why we’ve developed Apex, our senior professional hiring solution backed by three decades of UK public sector recruitment expertise across various frameworks.
Download this fact sheet to learn more.
Learn more about Apex by PeopleScout.
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Case Studies
Professional Search: Sourcing a Transformational Leader in Public Healthcare
Situation A prominent public healthcare organization in the UK faced a critical leadership transition. The role of Chief Executive & General Secretary, which had been filled by an interim leader for three years, needed to be permanently filled when the interim moved on. This transition coincided with the UK general election, meaning the new leader…
Case Studies
Professional Search: Finding a Strong Leader for a Complex Role in Local Government
Situation A local council in the UK were seeking a Director of Law & Governance. This was a prominent and complex role responsible for delivering legal and governance services, including a team of 100 employees across the council. This role would not only contribute to the direction of services across law and governance but also…
Specialist Hiring: Maximizing Success with Targeted Talent Sourcing
123
Potential Candidates Identified
38
%
Engagement Rate
7
Qualified Candidates Shortlisted
Situation
A local authority in the southwest of England had a robust talent acquisition team but required additional support for front-end headhunting and sourcing assignments. A new and niche position for a harbor master demanded a comprehensive strategy to locate the right specialist.
A habor master ensures the safety of all users of a harbor, including managing vessel traffic, investigating marine incidents and maintaining compliance with all safety codes. The ideal individual had strong leadership capabilities and the ability to hit the ground running, leveraging past experience.
With only 433 official harbors and fewer than 300 harbor masters in the UK, the talent pool was limited. Plus, the role would require the ideal individual to relocate. To tackle these challenges, the authority engaged PeopleScout for a calculated approach, utilizing our Talent Sourcing solution from the Amplifiers™ suite.
Solution
Our specialist senior professional sourcing team demonstrated a keen understanding of the local job market and quickly captured the client’s interest. We devised a strategy targeting individuals with:
- Experience working as a harbor master
- A harbor master diploma
- Strategic leadership qualities with a commercial mindset
- Membership in the British Ports Association
Our recruitment team employed a multifaceted approach, reaching out to potential candidates through LinkedIn and job boards. Given the specialist nature of the position, we had to think creatively. The team looked to social media and found a popular Instagrammer who had completed a charitable sailing journey to every port in the UK. By analyzing engagement on his posts, we identified key contacts relevant to the position.
The team worked tirelessly, reaching out to these contacts and identifying potential candidates. Our search extended across the UK and even to the Middle East. While this broader search boosted candidate quality, it required more in-depth conversations with candidates about relocation possibilities and lifestyle changes to ensure a comprehensive fit for the role.
Results
Through our efforts, we approached 123 individuals as potential matches. Out of these, 47 engaged with us, resulting in a notable engagement rate of 38%—well above the usual industry range of 18% to 25%.
Following a detailed and technical screening process, we successfully shortlisted seven candidates. This final shortlist included a mix of local candidates and those willing to relocate, demonstrating the effectiveness of our strategic recruitment approach.
At a Glance
- COMPANY
UK Government Agency - INDUSTRY
Government & Public Sector - PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
Amplifiers
Talent Sourcing: How We Helped a British University Fill a Niche Role
1
Niche Role
71
Candidates
46
%
Engagement Rate
Situation
A British university had tried recruiting for a role in their student casework team on two occasions. They found a successful candidate who, unfortunately, withdrew at the last minute. Upon further reflection they decided they required a more senior candidate so rewrote the job description for a Deputy Head of Student Casework.
The role was very specialized and had niche requirements and criteria. So, the university engaged PeopleScout to help them source the right candidates with our Talent Sourcing solution, part of our Amplifiers™ suite.
Solution
Following a thorough briefing and benchmarking, we had a clear vision of the priorities and an understanding of what the client was looking for. Our strategy targeted individuals who had:
- Previously managed a team of people
- Strong background in complex student casework
- Experience working within higher education
- Knowledge of academic and statutory framework guidelines
Since experience working in a university setting was essential and with only three other universities in close proximity, we knew our talent pool would be limited in the immediate geographical area. So, our search extended across the whole of the UK to identify candidates who would consider a relocation for this office-based role.
Results
We identified and approached 71 potential matches, and 33 people engaged with us, achieving an engagement rate of 46%—well above the industry average of 18% to 25%.
A shortlist of eight candidates was presented to the client, comprised of both candidates within a commutable distance to the university as well as those willing to relocate for the role.
Following interviews conducted by the client, the university hired one of our relocation candidates who was headhunted by our senior recruiter.
“We are very pleased indeed! Very interesting that all candidates said they weren’t actively looking for a new role, so clearly we needed to work with PeopleScout.”
Client Feedback
At a Glance
- COMPANY
Leading British university - INDUSTRY
Higher Education - PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
Amplifiers - ABOUT THE CLIENT
As one of the UK’s largest universities, the client offers 350 undergraduate and over 200 postgraduate programs. It is ranked in the top 7% of universities worldwide with students hailing from over 100 countries.
Supporting Annual Graduate Recruitment for a Government Agency
3,500
+
applications assessed
140
candidates supported in assessment centers
4
weeks of assessment centers completed
Situation
This UK government agency runs an annual graduate recruitment campaign to hire quality early careers talent across their policy advisor team. They turned to PeopleScout to ensure this process remained consistent, fair and unbiased.
Solution
The PeopleScout talent assessment team supports the agency’s graduate recruitment program each year, continuously improving campaigns year-on-year.
Prior to the assessment center, PeopleScout organizes assessors to sift written exercises. Successful candidates then complete a bespoke Situational Judgement Test, which we designed specifically to assess how candidates would respond in true-to-life scenarios that employees will encounter in their roles at the agency. This sifts out approximately 30% of applicants who would be unlikely to succeed at the assessment center.
Candidate then complete the assessment center, for which we provide assessors. The assessment includes a variety of exercises like role plays, interviews and structured policy conversations. These are freshly designed by the client each year, and PeopleScout supports by reviewing the materials for consistency and best practice.
Our experienced assessment team provides an end-of-campaign analysis, adverse impact analysis and recommendations for continual improvement. For example, off the back of these recommendations, we worked collaboratively with our client to host the assessment centres through part of our Affinix® total talent suite to create a smoother candidate and assessor experience in their virtual assessment centers.
Results
For this annual graduate recruitment campaign, PeopleScout assessed 3,697 applications, with 140 people completing the assessment center over four weeks. Ultimately, 53 candidates went on to work for the agency.
At a Glance
- COMPANY
UK Government Agency - INDUSTRY
Government & Public Sector - PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory, Affinix - ANNUAL HIRES
50+ graduate policy advisors - ABOUT THE CLIENT
This UK government agency employs over 3,000 civil servants.
Church of England: Full-Scale Recruitment Process Review Through a DE&I Lens
Situation
The Church of England (C of E) and its seven National Church Institutions (NCIs) have made great progress already in creating a diverse, fair, and unbiased recruitment processes. But, like most organizations, they face unique challenges. The main one being the barriers which come with being a faith and mission-based organization, coupled with the external perception of the Church. With the progress they had already made, the C of E were looking to accelerate the pace of change and take this to the next level, which is where PeopleScout came in.
Solution
The Church of England engaged PeopleScout to execute a recruitment process review through a diversity, equality and inclusion lens (DE&I) with the goal of uncovering further opportunities, including:
- A forensic deep dive of over 80 internal documents spanning role creation, assessment policy, organizational values, and DE&I training.
- DE&I data analysis of C of E’s recruitment processes focusing on progression and engagement.
- Deep immersion in the organization and connection with its members to understand what is happening on the ground through discovery interviews and focus groups, winning hearts and minds along the way.
- Regular consultative check-ins with the core team to ensure they are involved at each step of the way so they can own the recommendations.
- Co-creating a vision of what the future can look like with an actionable roadmap decided by current C of E employees.
Results
Examples of some of our recommendations include:
- Create a competency/behavior library and corresponding bank of interview questions to support hiring managers when designing role profiles, job descriptions and interviews for their roles.
- Revisit the Church of England’s brand visibility, marketing strategy and transparency based on feedback from their new joiners in order to better attract candidates from all backgrounds and religious orientations.
- Create clarity around instructions for filling out application forms to allow more consistency in response quality from candidates (e.g., using example responses).
- Keeping interview panels to a maximum of two or three members from C of E to reduce candidate anxiety.
- Create a central onboarding checklist to ensure everyone receives the same support when joining their role in any of the NCIs.
With the support of PeopleScout, Church of England’s National Church Institutions now have:
- Clarity over their current strengths in diverse recruitment to roll out wider, as well as opportunities for improvement
- Actionable, realistic, tailored recommendations for creating change in their unique organization
- A co-created roadmap with both quick wins and long-term strategy to mobilize change immediately whilst maintaining momentum
- Out-of-the-box ideas for talent attraction and candidate experience to boost the diversity of new joiners
- Support and buy in from key stakeholders and employee resource groups so that any actions can have a lasting embedded impact
At a Glance
- COMPANY
Church of England - INDUSTRY
Public Sector - PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
Recruitment Process Outsourcing - ABOUT CHURCH OF ENGLAND
The seven National Church Institutions (NCIs) work together at an international and national level, supporting the ministries of the Church.