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.
