The brief
psd conducted an assignment for a joint venture company created by Sellar Property and the Qatari National Bank to manage the Shard at London Bridge. The search was for an HR Director with a strong track record of successfully directing property development businesses in both the commercial & residential sectors. The business was at a very interesting point in its development, with the Shard about to open the View to the public, it was expected that the View would quickly become one of London’s premier tourist attractions.
At the time of engaging with psd the business was about to staff the View itself, which involved creating over 100 new roles while developing and building out their corporate structure. The future of the organisation also needed a close attention as the company was also responsible for managing several other real estate interests.
The solution
Initially thoughts centred on the recruitment of a well-established senior HR director who had clearly been involved in the process of running a customer facing business, either in the retail or leisure sectors, and with experience of leading a commercial Real Estate offering.
This individual, it was felt, would probably be currently employed in the sector as an executive HR Director. To ensure we covered a diverse population it was decided that we would consider candidates from both retail/leisure backgrounds as well as purely property backgrounds, while ideally finding someone who had a blend of sectors.
The results
The shortlisted candidates proceeded to interview with the client & were put through professional testing before 2 candidates were selected for a final interview. The successful candidate accepted the offer at the right level which had been communicated consistently throughout the process.
We were very satisfied that our processes provided the right level of choice for the client. They were delighted with the blend of candidates and were good enough to comment on how pleased they were with psd‘s efforts. From the start of the longlist development to offer stage, the process took no longer than 8 weeks.
This is very typical of a psd assignment and it accurately reflects our 25+ years as a leading Property & Construction sector recruitment consultancy.
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Business Sector: Property & Construction
Specialist Practice: HR
