St Elizabeth Hospice is an independent Suffolk-based charity providing free, specialist palliative care to over 4,000 patients and their families annually. They support those with progressive or life-limiting illnesses, with services covering East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth, and Waveney, focusing on care at home, in the community, and at their Ipswich and Beccles locations.
They offer multi-disciplinary care, including pain management, therapy, and support for families. This includes a 24/7 advice line, a specialized young adult service and a bereavement support. The hospice relies heavily on the community, with 70% of their roughly £12 million annual costs raised through fundraising, donations, and their retail shops.
As part of the charity's digital strategy they have chosen to implement two new systems and after an extensive tender and selection process, St Elizabeth Hospice needed to recruit an interim project delivery team for the implementation. Agilis Search were appointed as recruitment partners, particularly Director Matt Perks, to deliver these critical hires.
The challenge
The implementation team had to be recruited and onboarded within a vital timeframe, within a set budget to allow the project to be kicked off at the right time. The two systems allow the charity to operate effectively and the timely delivery of the project was to be crucial. Alongside the funding constraints meant that the hospice were working within a certain budget. Agilis Search’s Charity division was able to offer a reduced fee structure to insure the recruitment was delivered in a cost effective way that didn’t add pressure to the project’s budget restrictions.
To blend the skills the hospice needed, they were looking to recruit a IT Project Manager and a Project Officer to manage the implementation phase, and it was vital to find two individuals whose skills would complement each other, be available to start within a specific timeframe, commit to the project timeline and work within the values of the Charity.
The solution
Matt met with the members of the team who have overall responsibility of delivering the new systems and discussed how they might be able to make the most effective use of their overall budget for the roles. This included looking at length of contract and weekly hours of work, and how the project could be managed.
Matt’s first instinct was to use his existing network for IT professional by using his Linked In connections and Agilis’ live database. What transpired were a number of conversations that lead to some more experienced applicants wanting to commit to the project due to the charities profile, but also a number of candidates referring other people for the role. This method of candidate generation is particularly effective and utilises Matt’s decades worth of IT network and applicant relationships.
Due to the nature of the charity and their reputation a number of candidates wanted to apply for the position, but it was important for Matt to shortlist effectively to ensure the mix of skills was appropriate for the campaign, but also that the successful appointments completed the project in its entirety. This made the shortlisting process critical.
"Matt at Agilis Search was instrumental in helping us secure two great candidates for challenging fixed-term project roles. He was extremely responsive and provided excellent customer service, which meant he fully understood our specific requirements from the outset. Despite the difficulty of the brief, we gained two outstanding placements that fit our needs perfectly. We highly value their expertise and dedicated approach to recruitment."
George Abery Bone, Associate Director of People and Culture.
Agilis Search’s delivery
We presented a diverse shortlist of six high-quality candidates that met the two briefs. This shortlist was delivered to provoke consideration of how the project could be delivered with a mix of more senior applicants, and some part time options, therefore maximising the project budget parameters. Conducting most of the interviews remotely, three candidates reached the final round in person, leaving St Elizabeth Hospice with a good, but difficult decision. Matt also suggested and organised a follow up coffee meeting with one particular candidate and after this two applicants were offered and started on the same date.
A month after the two applicants started, the feedback and impact has been immediate. The blend of the two sets of skills, with the two personality types has allowed the hires to add value immediately and the project implementation has kicked of at the right pace and are meeting road mapped deliverables.
Agilis Search’s Matt Perks delivered the campaign.
Matt leads the Agilis’ Technology and our leadership offering. With over 15 years experience in recruitment and over 8 years running his own recruitment business, he has the ability to consult and offer agile people solutions to organisations across Suffolk and North Essex. Agilis have been incredibly proud to support St Elizabeth Hospice with this recruitment through our charity division, offering reduced terms and enhanced services. Allowing us to offer meaningful and impactful recruitment support to those who need it the most. It is a core foundation at Agilis.