The challenge
Vibrance is a registered charity that provides a range of services to adults with a disability across London and the South East of England.
It currently supports 450 people within its residential, short breaks, outreach and day services and a further 2,000 people who use its personal budget service.
Paul Allen, Chief Executive Officer at Vibrance, approached Reed to help him source a finance director with third sector experience who could also demonstrate a positive attitude towards disability support.
Paul has worked with Reed for a number of years with great success. For this placement, he expressed a desire to have a finance director who could manage the existing team gently, sensitively and professionally, while also understanding the work that Vibrance does as an organisation.
The solution
Given Reed’s vast experience in placing the right senior professionals into finance leadership roles, our consultants take an approach which ensures the placement is a perfect match for both the organisation and the professional.
Initially, Jason Imber, Executive Area Manager at Reed, had a meeting with Vibrance’s Director of Finance & Development, Samantha Wilkinson, to better understand the organisation’s needs. Samantha is a director who was covering the gap in the finance director role, meaning she knew exactly what was required to be successful in the job.
Jason agreed to a quick turnaround time with Vibrance, aiming to have a shortlist of potential candidates ready within three weeks. To help achieve this, he recommended that the charity engaged Reed on a retained agreement – boosting the chances of finding the right candidate rapidly.
Knowing that getting the right professional placed in a timely manner was a priority, Jason wanted to make sure he spent time screening potential, interested candidates to ensure they were the right fit before submitting their details to Vibrance, conducting interviews himself before shortlisting them.
He said: “Having run a recruitment campaign themselves with varying results, the team at Vibrance were keen to partner with an experienced consultant to manage this process through to a successful appointment."
We mapped out the entire process from the outset with dates and actions agreed. It was then simply a case of delivering on those actions and being in contact with all parties throughout the process.
Executive Area Manager, Reed
The results
After taking five candidates to interview, the position was filled.
Chibuzo Okpala accepted the position as Finance Director at Vibrance. Since his placement within Vibrance, Chibuzo has already made a strong start in the role, while the team were able to accommodate his need for flexibility to make time for his family.
Paul expressed his delight at the placement, stating that Chibuzo is a great fit for the organisation and has provided some much-needed stability to the team as they progress towards their targets. Having used Reed before to fill finance roles, Paul continues to praise the service provided, having been satisfied and delighted with all the staff placed by Reed over the past year.
Equally, Chibuzo said how happy he has been with Reed, stating that the relationship Jason built up with him is what made the difference. He really valued the honest approach he received, and the steps that Reed took to make sure his application was suitable for the role.
