When the right hire gives you your life back
The challenge
A long-established, family-owned Lincolnshire farming business had experienced substantial growth year on year. With that growth had come an increasingly unmanageable workload for the director responsible for the accounts.
The introduction
A candidate of ours had recently been made redundant and he was somebody that we had known as both a candidate and a client. Liz had recruited plenty of staff for him when he was the Finance Director for a large Boston company and also secured a number of senior appointments for him over the years. Utterly reliable, hard-working, and with extensive experience of working in owner-managed SMEs, she knew that he would be a strong fit for the business. He had the gravitas to deal confidently with supermarkets, manage the different personalities, and take genuine responsibility for the office – someone the directors could trust to take charge rather than someone else they would need to manage.
Sometimes the idea of starting the interview process, having to put aside time, meet lots of people, pressure to make a decision etc, can stall the process. A coffee is a great way to informally meet someone. It’s the point from which ideas can bounce around and you can get an idea of whether personalities gel, which is often the most important factor. That first informal meeting with a tour of the site led to meeting the rest of the family. Everyone was impressive; including our candidate.
The solution
We had already discussed the possibility of starting with a contract rather than making an immediate permanent appointment. For a family business that had been run closely for many years, handing over responsibility for sensitive financial information, staff and key commercial relationships was a significant step. A six-month contract gave both sides the opportunity to establish that the relationship worked in practice before making a long-term commitment.
They didn’t need six months.
Barely a couple of months after he started, the family decided to employ him permanently.
The result
The director later told me that they wished they had done it years ago. The appointment didn’t simply solve a recruitment problem. It gave him back time with his young family. He no longer has to be involved in everything. He has someone he trusts to take responsibility, manage the office and deal confidently with the people around the business.