CASE STUDY
INSTITUTION OF ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE PROPULSIONS - PROGRAM DIRECTOR
What do you do when your funding for a high profile multi-million pound initiative is approved but you haven’t got anyone in place to make it happen and you are in danger of slipping behind schedule before you even start?
The Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS), based at the Bristol and Bath Science Park, will be industry led and compete on a global scale to support the UK in delivering transformational research in the years to come. Combining the world’s best engineers with industry, underpinned by a track record in expertise and delivery from the University of Bath, IAAPS can help deliver the cars of the future, secure jobs and investment and ensure the UK is not left behind within the automotive propulsion research arena.
In 2017 this is the sdaunting situation IAAPS found itself in, government funding in place, prestigious corporate partners signed up however hire number 1 was not yet in place and without a Programme Director the initiative was in serious danger of failure before it began.
KEY CHALLENGES
The success of the whole project depended on finding the right first hire to lead this initiative with the ability to bring the dream and plans to reality. The clock was ticking, Good Talent were called and our opinion was sought on how to go about solving this problem, our recommendation was a pure search effort. The brief parameters were so tight that only a hand-full of people were likely to have the skills and experience to pull this off, in such a case it made no sense to waste time on advertising and hoping for a response rather we needed to go to market direct and proactively search out the ideal candidate. Add to this the time pressure that IAAPS was facing and search became the only viable option, Good Talent were asked to lead the assignment.
SOLUTION & RESULTS
Sometimes a restrictive brief can be a help, in as much as you know exactly what you are looking for, this meant we were very quickly able to map out the market of potential prospects and begin our work. A laser like focus supported with detailed collateral that we had developed yielded results fast, in fact we were able to hit the target first time round shortening the search assignment to such an extent that IAAPS were able to catch up on their timeline.
“I cannot recommend Leon highly enough. Leon approached me for a new role in a very subtle way, and then worked with me throughout the process. He helped me with interview preparation, a structured process for deciding on whether to take on the new role, working through T&Cs and ultimately preparing to start work in the new role. Working with Leon was a breath of fresh air compared to other recruitment specialists; the detailed discussions and assistance throughout the process were great and really helped me to secure the next step in my career.”
Gavin Edwards – Program Director
IAAPS
ALSO CHECK: MAYNARD LEIGH ASSOCIATES – REGIONAL CEO