Senior Estates Appointments for VT Group and the MOD

Background

VT Group, a major support services company delivering complex projects and services to governments, signed multi-million pound contracts with the Ministry of Defence to manage a number of estates across the UK. VT Group later became part of Babcock International in 2010.

From mid-2007, VT and the MOD worked with Maxwell Stephens on a series of demanding recruitment projects to resource those contracts.

The Brief

VT and the MOD retained Maxwell Stephens to source eight senior individuals for estates roles located across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Several of the requirements had to be met at short notice, and every appointment needed to satisfy both the contractor and the defence client.

The Market for This Role

Estates roles on defence contracts sit between two sets of expectations: the contractor's commercial targets and the government client's governance and security requirements. Candidates have to be credible with both.

Many defence sites are also some distance from the main FM labour markets, which narrows the field further and makes advertising alone an unreliable way to fill senior posts at short notice.

Our Approach

• We worked with VT and the MOD to build a model of what a suitable candidate looked like, so that every search started from an agreed profile.
• Regular meetings with managers and personnel teams gave us a detailed understanding of the recruitment objectives behind each role.
• We produced concise job and person specifications for each role, including the selection criteria candidates would be measured against.
• Candidates were sourced through a combination of advertising, contingency search, headhunting and ongoing recruitment programmes.
• We arranged multiple interview days and, after each one, presented a shortlist to the selection panel with notes from structured interviews and full CVs.
• Every candidate was reference checked before being put forward.

The Outcome

Maxwell Stephens filled all eight assignments. Because the specifications and selection criteria had been agreed at the outset, we were often able to put forward a single, well-matched candidate for review, leading to interview, assessment and appointment without a long list of near misses.

Why It Worked

Defence estates work combines operational FM with the governance expectations of a government client. Agreeing the candidate model and selection criteria first, then assessing every candidate against them in structured interviews, gave the selection panel shortlists it could compare and decide on quickly, even when timescales were tight.

If you are planning a facilities, estates or workplace appointment, talk to Maxwell Stephens about how we would run the search.