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Recruiting for Analysts. Panel: Ruth Smyth – RSPB, Shaun Williams –PDSA, David Dipple – Tangible Data, Ben Smith - Amnesty.
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Recruiting for Analysts Panel: Ruth Smyth – RSPB, Shaun Williams –PDSA, David Dipple – Tangible Data, Ben Smith - Amnesty Session background: This session involved a short presentation by panel members and then workshops where different groups discussed their recruitment experiences, these notes come from both the panel members and the groups • What competencies are needed?The groups were asked to share their top 3, these are listed in bold below: • Communication skills x 2 – especially the ability to lead a discussion and gather requirements • Analytical thinking • Diligence / professionalism • Drive • Technical skills x 2 • Understanding of charity fundraising • Understanding of stats • Ability to make sense of and translate data • Thirst, willingness to learn and ability to apply • Don’t need to be too formally qualified but need application to business • Numerical skills • Attention to detail • Individual and team worker • Logical thinker • Time management / planning, responsiveness • Expectation management • Results driven – don’t get bogged down with the detail • Creative and forward thinking • Patience • Challenging, probing, inquisitive • Problem solving • Insightful • Data visualisation • Flexibility / adaptability • Plain-speaking • Methodical • Caring & honest regarding work / mistakes • Ability to absorb knowldge This makes sure they can apply themselves even when the task is boring! We discussed how important charity experience is – it helps with the language needed but isn’t vital Some thoughts from the panel: Communication skills are the most important Need to be able to communication with IT, finance & marketing Make sure you don’t just recruit in your own image! Shaun shared his top 7 tips for recruitment – see last slide…
Recruiting for Analysts • I also talked to people over wine in the evening & • the following thoughts came up: • Job descriptions don’t always match the job • If you’re lucky enough to have a team you • don’t need every skill in one person Shaun Williams said this has worked really well for PDSA due to their location • What works well when recruiting? • Asking about experience • Student placements • Networking – online sources, linked in etc • Testing skills e.g. how approach simple questions, whether understand marketing concepts • Using a good agency who understand the requirements • Picking a recruitment agency carefully • Another idea was to do more telephone interviews to check the candidate has the rights skills • – also for candidates to phone employers because it makes a good impression David said his favourite question is to ask someone to explain standard deviation as if taking to a non-technical person • What is challenging when recruiting? • Very small pool of people to recruit from • Getting someone with good communication skills • Charity specific agencies aren’t always the best place to go • People looking good on paper & not in interview • The ‘unknown’ factor – candidate not knowing about job role, employer not knowing about skills & personality • Selling the role • Finding people with the passion and communication skills • Organisational fit • Prior charity experience • Replacing someone very respected / been there so long • Creating fair tests (short notice presentations) • Changing nature of the role e.g. new analysis, web data • Steep learning curve in analysis because need to know how the organisation works • ‘Specialist’ yet a broad skill set required • Varying analysis set-up within charities • Budget • Needing people with more than one skill I said David was scary! We talked about how its also very important to hang onto good people – David Dipple suggested shackles!
Recruiting for Analysts - Shaun Williams’ 7 steps for successful recruitment • Conduct a Marketing/Fundraising situational analysis • Develop a clear understanding of the organisations needs • Design the analytical team structure around defined business needs • Build a skills/needs matrix to focus organisational requirements (Critical v Nice to have) • Consider your selection process & evaluation criteria • Develop your management framework • Consider YOUR specific critical success factors