Based in Macclesfield, NUS Services Ltd is a commercial business wholly-owned by the NUS and its member Students’ Unions. It exists to provide support and consultancy services to the member Students’ Unions, through brokering a wide range of revenue-generating commodities, and seeking out innovative commercial opportunities that meet the organisation’s ethical and environmental principles. In 2007 they purchased more than £58 million worth of goods and services generated from 63 suppliers for Students’ Unions nationwide.

The brief was to use our broad base of contacts to recruit both within and outside the sector a strong individual who would be able to lead the business support functions and stand in for the Chief Executive.

Perception

A detailed website, based on the briefings taken from a number of key people, was created in the same style as the advert. The site’s remit was to provide the information necessary to ensure that the reader had enough information to:

• make a decision on whether the role was suitable for them
• determine whether the client was the type of organisation to work for
• kick start their research and create a professional application

The site was also effective as a research tool. We were able to use it to gauge the popularity of the post and the effectiveness of the advertising through detailed analytical reporting, and to capture the contact details of potential candidates that hadn't applied to question them why they hadn't put themselves forward.

A website is only a single tool in the box, and is only useful when combined with information gleaned from telephone feedback and interviews conducted by our experienced researchers and consultants.

With minimal necessary involvement from the client, but at the same time, keeping the client abreast of developments with regular reports and conversations, we were able to provide the client with:

• absolute confidence in our high standards during a major recruitment exercise
  
• up to date information about the perception of their organisation, both positive and negative, in the marketplace
• a choice of three appointable candidates after the final interview

Ian King, Chief Executive, NUS Services Limited said

The experience of contracting out our senior management recruitment to Proventure was simply excellent both as a customer and as a future employer

After a robust interview ( to ascertain, in fine detail, the absolute requirements ) I was delighted  to leave the rest to the team until recruitment day itself ( with frequent updates )

In the event , we ended up with three appointable candidates , none of whom we would have sourced through normal / more conventional routes. As a seasoned recruiter, I also learned a great deal

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