the Online Process – GSTT NHS 1
Case Study One – Structuring and Hosting
We were appointed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to run a three phased recruitment campaign for a number of leadership roles within its Capital Development, Estates & Facilities division, Essentia. What was initially a planned to be a traditional in-person assessment process quickly had to be adapted as the COVID pandemic situation escalated in March of this year. Ben Duffill – Director at MRG and an expert managing recruitment campaigns for healthcare, education and public sector property and estates leadership roles, said “We had to take the decision to cancel the group discussion sessions and move forward with panel interviews arranged online within a very short period. The process was new to everyone, so it was not as seamless as it could have been at the beginning, but we were really impressed with how quickly everyone adapted to this new approach. All interviews went ahead successfully. We learned lessons from phase 1. This round of interviews, for three senior roles, were delivered via video and were undertaken seamlessly. We had more time to think and plan and learnt that if meticulous planning is deployed, the process can work well for both panel members and applicants. Hosting and facilitating the interviews the second time round, we made some major differences to the format, pre-empting solutions and preventing issues.
Firstly, we ensured that all clients and candidates had more than one method of accessing the meeting – e.g. providing a hyperlink to the meeting as well as a diary invite. Secondly , we introduced a lobby system. All panel members were admitted through from the lobby to the meeting, then once ready and assembled, we introduced the candidate – much like a real-life interview.” Any issues participants had about not being familiar around the technology were eliminated by the second round. The feedback we had from the panel interviews was that they were highly successful, and appointments have been successfully made. Historically many companies would have not considered it possible to hire a senior executive without a face to face process – now, everything has changed. Undoubtedly, there are benefits to meeting candidates in person - but the power of facilitating via an online channel should not be underestimated, as it has allowed us to make key appointments in one of the most important NHS trusts – and incredibly, without any wasted time on programme despite disruptions.
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