The client: University of Edinburgh
The project: Head of School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering
The brief
Veredus were retained by the University of Edinburgh to support the recruitment of a new Head of School of Engineering after the initial recruitment process led by another search firm failed to appoint.
The School of Engineering is one of the largest Schools at the University with 430 staff, 550 postgraduate research students, and 2,100 undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, and £25 million in research awards. Candidates were expected to demonstrate an international research reputation, a commitment to teaching excellence and significant management experience. They had to have proven ability to provide both academic and executive leadership and to act as the external advocate of the School to a range of stakeholders, nationally and internationally.
We were briefed by several senior university stakeholders including the Head of College, the Provost and others to ensure we were clear on the key priorities and objectives of the post and the core competencies and achievements that the successful candidate had to demonstrate.
The process
We worked closely with the university HR team to devise an advertising campaign and created the candidate brochure for the role, providing input into its content and wording.
We launched the advertising campaign, liaise with the media via our advertising agency, and handling all candidates’ responses and queries.
At the initial stage of the executive search campaign, we undertook an in-depth analysis of the global HE market, identifying relevant institutions and potential candidates within those. We targeted high-performing, research intensive, large and complex institutions in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Western Europe that have successful schools/faculties of engineering that have gone through significant growth and improvements in research rankings, with a reference to various league tables such as QS, The Guardian and The Times Higher Education.
We also referenced academic research databases (i.e. Research Gate, Orchid, Google Scholar, PubMed) and Research Councils’ funding/grants portals to ensure the candidates we were identifying had the required track records of research and grant capture in addition to leadership capabilities.
We then undertook a programme of engagement with our networks to garner recommendations and with potential candidates. We acted as Edinburgh’s representatives in the market, ensuring each interaction we had reflected positively on the university. We used a range of innovative attraction techniques, targeting both active and passive candidates. These included our networks, referrals/recommendations, proprietary database search, fresh desk research, professional forums and social media. Our approach involved crafting personalised communication that highlights the unique benefits and opportunities of the position and the institution, ensuring that our tailored messaging resonated with the candidate’s career goals and values, which has significantly increased engagement and positive response.
Diversity and inclusion were key, and our recruitment strategy was inclusive, unbiased and proactive in engaging the broadest possible field of suitably qualified candidates, including those from underrepresented groups. We engaged with a range of organisations concerned with equality and diversity to identify suitable candidates, drawing on strong connections we have forged with groups such as Association for Women in Science, Cambridge Association for Women in Science and Engineering, the Black Women in Science Network, IET Women’s Network, Academic Network of European Disability Experts and others.
We provided Edinburgh with detailed weekly updates during the executive search campaign outlining who was engaged, what the likely pipeline of candidates was going to be and key themes from market feedback and any issues arising. We also held weekly catch-up meetings to discuss progress and any issues arising.
As a result of our activities, we elicited 26 applications for the role. After the closing date, we provided the University with a detailed written analysis of each application, assessing them against person specification criteria. We divided applications into A (strong fit with the person specification), B (partial fit with the person specification) and C (weak/no fit with the person specification) categories.
We then presented our findings to the selection panel in a Longlist Report and met with them to discuss our comments, agree the list of candidates to be progressed to interview, and feedback points for the unsuccessful candidates.
Following the longlist meeting, eight candidates were progressed to Veredus preliminary interviews. During those, we assessed candidates against the essential skills/experience for the role and tested their transferability into the position and the cultural and values fit to the University. We then prepare objective appraisal reports will, drawing out their strengths, experience and areas for consideration, their motivation and relevant logistical factors such as salary expectations, location, notice period etc.
These were compiled into a Shortlist Report which we presented to the selection panel at the shortlisting meeting where we also provided further insight into our findings from the preliminary interviews, answered the panel’s questions and helped them identify a shortlist of four candidates for the final stage of the process. We provided comprehensive, and constructive feedback to all candidates that were not progressed at this stage.
We conducted due diligence on shortlisted candidates which included ID/nationality check, LinkedIn CV check, internet trawl, media and social media activity checks, flagging any issues identified to the university.
The final selection process included candidates meeting with the university leadership and staff groups. The candidates then attended formal interviews with the selection panel where they were asked to make a presentation.
The results
As a result, three candidates were deemed above the line and appointable by the panel and the preferred candidate (a female BAME Professor and Head of Engineering from a leading Australian University) was appointed to the post.
Veredus followed up with constructive and developmental feedback to all candidates, ensuring they had a positive experience of the process and Edinburgh.
The client was delighted with the service that we provided, and the quality and diversity of the shortlist generated. All the external longlisted and shortlisted candidates applied for the role as a result of our proactive approaches as opposed to advertising.