The Hay Group & Arras

"We were comfortable with your style, and you turned around quickly when we needed you to."

Below is a conversation about a recent placement at The Hay Group (August 2011). Gary Holmes, Arras People consultant worked with The Hay Group to find the right programme coordinator; he was interviewed by Arras' PR Coordinator Dan Strayer. The conversation is also available in PDF format for printing, as well as a Word document.
 

DAN STRAYER (right): Talk about the customer, the Hay Group: tell us what they do, the reach they have, and give a little bit about their history.
GARY HOLMES (left): Hay Group are one of the biggest management consultancies out there. I would go so far as to say they are of the same stature as the likes of Accenture and Deloitte, and they currently house 500 staff in their London office.
 

DS: What can you tell us about the details of this programme at the moment, with regards to where it stood before our services were sought out?
GH: The programme it was supporting was an internal programme. It was looking at how Hay Group interacts with its employees, not just in the UK but worldwide. Funnily enough, this type of study and assessment is something that they offer as a consultancy.
 

DS: Why did they turn to an outside agency like Arras People?
GH: I think the challenge with this role was that yes, they were looking for a programme coordinator, and there a lot of good Coordinators out there, but they were looking for someone at the very top end of that skill and experience bracket. Someone who's got a really strong background, and someone who has more experience in the delivery aspects than many programme coordinators. That’s why they came to us.
 

DS: Did you have to coach the candidates at all, like in your interactions with the candidates?
GH: With a programme role, it's about working across lots of projects, with a broad scope, and looking at the interdependencies across the different workstreams. They were looking for someone who had worked on some big projects and programmes with international stakeholders as well.
 

DS: Obviously, you take a role, you face it and say, "this is the challenge we have to meet". Talk about the steps you took to meet Hay Group's challenge in this particular role – terms of crucial information.
GH: I advertised it over 3-4 days and tried to get a range of 3-4 people across to them. There was a candidate with a really good background, but in public sector; there was another person with the consultancy background but a little bit less experience, so I just tried to get a mix of people in. The big snag that came up was that they interviewed the three we put in, and then came back and said "We like one of them, but we’d like to see someone else as well to provide a benchmark." They gave me a day to get another candidate into them. That was obviously a challenge in terms of turning it round quickly; but it was in that second round of searching that I found the candidate that was eventually hired for the role.
 

DS: Had she been in the back of your mind in the first place as someone who might be easy to plug in here?
GH:  Well, she applied after I’d put my initial shortlist in and interviews were in progress, so I’d seen her, but I was hesitant on putting any more people in until they’d interviewed the first round of candidates. So after they came back, I basically got on the phone to her. She turned out to be a really good candidate so I submitted her as soon as I got off the phone from her. They interviewed her the day after I put her in, offered her the job, and she took it.
 

DS: Talk about how this win reflected upon your own professional experiences, both from having worked in PPM and as a professional consultant.
GH: From a PPM perspective, I used to do programme coordination, so it was quite similar to what I'd done, albeit in a different environment. As such it was fairly easy to get on board with the role, having done similar things myself in the past. In terms of experience as a recruiter, once they said, "Can you get us someone else," it was all about turning around quickly and getting someone else in whilst they were still keen.
 

DS: I'm intrigued that they were keen for someone new, and as that’s happening, the role does stay live as well. And as a result, someone who hadn't known about it or maybe had just become available, when it comes to scenarios like that, you can pull out some hidden gems in there.
GH: It does happen from time to time. That's why we leave the jobs open for applicants, so that if we do need to re-visit a shortlist we can do so quickly. So it was a good job that she'd applied in the interim.
 

DS: Talking about the numbers in figures that went into this recruitment.
GH: Well, I put four candidates in, they interviewed all four. On the Hay Group portal, I noticed that there was a total of 13 candidates, so 8 or 9 others from other agencies, so it was quite pleasing to get the win amidst the other competition. It’s the first time we’ve worked with them as well.

DS: I know the role hasn’t kicked off as we talk, but in terms of any feedback or praise that has come our way in this placement, is there anything you can share with us?
GH: They thanked us for our efforts, really. They were relieved to get someone on board for the role. Once we got through at the end, they were pretty happy, and they’ve been great to work with.
 

DS: What are some of the crucial things that you take from this role, in terms of when you look back at it? What will you think of?
GH: Quick turnaround, first time, second time. The consultative approach also jumps out at me. After the first round of interviews they turned to us and asked what our thoughts were on the candidates as well, which is always encouraging.
 

DS: They could better tap into what you know?
GH: Absolutely. We just had a chat about the candidates, came to an agreement about moving forward, and went off searching again. And in the end, we collaborated and found the person that was a great fit for them.