D
Catalyst | Dexterity
You have to understand each
other. The key to success is how you
communicate and work together. From
the client side, it’s understanding that the
more information you can share and the
closer you can bring your supply partner
into your business, the more they understand
you. Apart from the logistical awareness,
your partner needs to truly understand the
culture of your organisation and be able to
sell that to candidates effectively.
Role modelling values and
behaviours is crucial. Our
recruiters have to ‘sell’ a position
to candidates and, in turn, ‘sell’ the
organisation, so they must live and breathe
your values and behaviours. Your partner
needs its recruiters to be absorbing,
listening and learning; essentially, acting
as a permanent recruiter would do. While
the recruitment function as a whole
has to operate inside a framework and
set of rules, it’s important that the
behaviours don’t come across as a
‘computer-says-no’ mentality.
RPO must be fully immersed
in your business. If you want to
immerse your partner in your business,
you have to be willing to open the
doors and bring them in. Make them
part of your group – take them along to
leadership meetings, make them part of
your leadership team. Don’t keep them at
arm’s length.
Champion your partner. Any
form of support function often tends to
get the blame for things – if you’re an
outsourced one, it’s double bubble! It’s
natural that people have frustrations and
challenges, but rather than placing blame,
identify what you can learn from mistakes
and how you can ensure it is not repeated.
I am very supportive of our recruitment
partner with my directors and to the
rest of the business, because I believe in
their service.
You need to be transparent.
The key to a good relationship between a
client and supply partner is acknowledging
that it is so much more than a review of a
service level agreement at the end of each
month. While the numbers might look
‘green’, you need to ask yourself: does this
feel ‘green’?
Andrew Hart CV
Oct 2019 – present:
Head of talent
acquisition, Santander
Oct 2016 – Sep 2019:
Head of resourcing,
Lifeways Group
Apr 2016 – Oct 2016:
Recruitment director,
Pontoon Solutions
Jun 2010 – Apr 2016:
Head of colleague
services operations,
Lloyds Banking Group
Dec 2004 – Jun 2010:
Head of recruitment &
talent management,
Atos Origin
Jun 2002 – Nov 2004:
Recruitment manager,
JP Morgan Chase
Apr 1997 – May 2002:
Senior recruitment
manager, Modis
“It’s important that the
behaviours don’t come across as a
‘computer-says-no’ mentality”
Talk the same language.
At Santander, we talk a lot about our values
of ‘simple, personal and fair’. If a partner can
talk to me about making a process ‘simpler’,
they’ll have my ear. If you can talk culture
back to someone, it’s very powerful, as
that’s what your business person is being
measured on.
“If a partner can talk to me
about making a process
simpler, they’ll have my ear”
Acknowledge what is driving
business pressures. If your partner
can identify and acknowledge the business
priorities that are causing pain and build out
solutions or future thinking accordingly, it
can be very powerful. In banking, group HR
directors are challenged on the following:
how do we grow digital skills? How do we
fight financial crime when we don’t have
the skills? How do we get grade-A cyber
security? How are we competing against
new brands… these are the challenges the
CEO wants you to address. You don’t hear
many RPOs talk that language when you go
to a quarterly business review.
Set the scene together. There’s a
need to talk metrics and how the service is
performing – but I want to talk more about
the qualitative side of the relationship and
ensure meetings are meaningful. On both
sides, ask how you can help each other, and
talk openly about how the relationship is
going. Is there room for improvement? Are
we doing the best we can? Promote thinking
and interest around what’s happening in
the market.
Issue 4 - 2020
45