Phil Sermon, CEO of Warrington Community Living (WCL), shares his experience of changing industries with the help of SPE Resourcing.
I’ve known Daniel for over 12 years, and we catch up relatively often. One of his skills and what makes him different to a lot of recruitment professionals is the fact he maintains his network – even when he doesn’t have specific roles to discuss.
During one of our chats, we began talking about the hospitality industry and how my future opportunities could be impacted by Covid. We talked about transferable skills and the potential of moving sectors.
I’ve worked for several world-class hospitality companies and in a variety of roles – from operations and marketing to acquisitions and procurement – leading to becoming a Managing Director/COO. For the last 10 years, I’ve specialised in business transformation and turnaround for venture capitalists and private equity owned organisations.
Daniel mentioned a new opportunity with WCL – an organisation that was fantastic at care, but needed to refocus commercially and financially. I was intrigued to learn more as while it was a completely different industry, overseeing the transformation would be something I was very used to.
Prior to our chat, Daniel had already met with different members of the board to identify specific needs. He spent a lot of time interviewing people at the pre-recruitment stage and dedicated the same time to me. His detail and thoroughness was impressive, but not surprising.
Richard Gore, the Chair of WCL, knew what was missing from the organisation as well as what they needed to achieve going forward. He and Daniel had pulled together an impressive candidate briefing document.
Following the detailed first interview – via Zoom – with the Chair, Deputy CEO and the Head of the Finance Committee, a selection of shortlisted candidates then met with members of the senior leadership team. This provided a different insight into the organisation and demonstrated transparency and openness. The final face-to-face interview had a slightly different panel but was equally thorough and in depth.
Overall, I found the process to be one of the most professional I’ve ever had. It showed the mark of the organisation, its people and Daniel. I couldn’t fault the level of thought and detail that had gone into it from both Daniel, Richard and the team.
It’s really important for me to work for – and with – honest, talented and professional people, and this was highlighted throughout the interview process.
Since I joined WCL I can see that the level of care and attention within the organisation is completely genuine, and that the candidate brief was honest and accurate and a testament to both WCL and Daniel’s professionalism.
