Speedy result for Lloyds

1 September 2010

The Challenge:

The merger of banking giants Lloyds TSB and HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) in January 2009 was inevitably going to lead to a huge integration in every division throughout the newly merged organisation. And such was the case in the IT finance team. David Rowsell, head of finance - IT supply, group IT finance at Lloyds Banking Group, told Recruiter that up until recently the company had been recruiting contractors instead of hiring permanent employees. “We were relying too much on contractors,” he said, “and it was time to recruit more permanent senior-management positions.”

The Lloyds Banking Group has a 170-strong IT finance team, with 30 senior finance managers reporting directly to the finance board. Following the ’honeymoon period’, the requirement was to recruit an additional four or five senior managers. However, with the company completing its initial phase of integration, Rowsell was not just looking for IT specialists; he needed people with future leadership capabilities who were looking to build a career for themselves at the bank. His idea was to hold an event to find these candidates.

Rowsell had successfully hosted recruiting events at a junior level, but had never tried this for senior appointments. He needed expert advice and help. He himself was recruited into Lloyds through financial recruitment specialist Marks Sattin 15 years ago. Impressed with his experience, he had used the recruiter’s help with filling various positions for his team over the years. He turned to Karen Rayment, executive consultant, at Marks Sattin’s banking division. “I spent a lot of time with Karen, explaining the new culture of the organisation and how important getting the right cultural fit was,” said Rowsell.

The Solution:
Rayment listened to Rowsell’s ideas and what he wanted to achieve from such an event. “It certainly wasn’t a bog-standard senior IT management spec,” said Rowsell. Rayment agreed. “It was an open brief David gave me. It was more about succession planning, rather than a specialism in IT finance.”

Her suggestion was for a ’speed dating’ event, held at Marks Sattin’s offices and to take place in a month. There would be two, 15-minute slots of ’speed’ interviews that would be with Lloyds’ heads of finance, as well as other members of the senior management team networking with the other candidates while they waited to be interviewed.

Rayment and her team decided to do a branded advert and design a microsite to attract candidates. There was some delay, “due to the red tape with getting company approval for a branded ad”, and Rayment worried this might hold up the event. The advert was posted on Marks Sattin’s website, as well as on financial job boards. Despite having just one-and-a half weeks to run the ad, it had a big impact. “In the first hour we had about 60 applicants, which carried on over the next week,” she said.

Rayment spoke to the best applicants for at least half an hour on the phone before inviting them in. “We also coached them in the ’speed-dating’ type interviews to get them to sell themselves in 15 minutes,” she said. The result was that 15 great candidates attended the event.

The next day, there was a debrief with all the attendees from Lloyds and Marks Sattin. Rayment put photos of the candidates on a screen, where everyone could contribute their opinions on how they fared. “We were pleased with the calibre of people,” said Rowsell. “Marks Sattin gave us a great breadth of candidate - not necessarily with financial service experiences.” Rayment added: “We brainstormed each candidate. I could see from people’s body language how they rated each applicant.” Seven were invited back for more formal interviews.

We were pleased with the calibre of people,” said Rowsell. “Marks Sattin gave us a great breadth of candidate - not necessarily with financial service experiences

The turnaround meant that successful candidates were fast-tracked, as the process didn’t even take two weeks. Two candidates have been hire so far, with several others in the pipeline. “As well as candidates enjoying the event,” Rayment said, “it was time-effective on Lloyds’ behalf.”

Key lessons
David Rowsell
It was crucial to spend a lot of time with Karen and the team to really get them to understand our needs and the importance of cultural fit within the organisation – particularly when it is not a bog-standard role

Karen Rayment
The advertising sign-off could have delayed us and put back the event. Clients are going to take time signing off any branded advertising by an outside firm. Factor this in to the timeline