LONDON CALLING

Bridie Cunningham, new chair of the London Chapter, looks forward to an exciting year ahead.

It is an exciting time to be appointed London Chair after a very unique year. I am looking forward to the challenges ahead as we start to meet in person (fingers crossed) and hope to meet some of you at our first post-pandemic London Construction Lunch.

BITA’s strength has always been networking and in-person events, so the last 16 months have been particularly challenging in maintaining contact with our 200 plus London members. Thankfully, we were able to use technology to plug the gap and one of our big successes has been our Friday Morning networking hour. Using Remo, a relatively new but easy to use platform, we have been able to create a weekly gathering of members, in a setting similar to meeting in a pub or café (without the beer)! Some weeks we have had almost 50 members attending, “moving around” the virtual room or not (their choice) and having a chat with other members. New connections have been made, with some leading to work now or in the future and some just being good for the soul - and all done in one hour at 8am on a Friday at the beginning of the working day. Many of our members, particularly those in construction, have been pleasantly surprised at how useful they have found the event, so much so that they have requested we continue it post lockdown as it is a great use of time.

Outside of BITA I am the Co-Founder of Portman Scott, a search and recruitment business. We specialise in senior hires from Board to Manager level. As you would expect, various lockdowns gave us some challenges, including the question would anyone ever hire anyone again! Whilst some sectors were dramatically affected, others saw growth, the challenge was - how do we hire when no one could meet in person? Culture and attitude are two major factors when hiring. Statistics demonstrate that when people are happy in a role they will not only stay in that role but overachieve, reducing staff turnover and saving time and money.

We have our own unique technology “Next Generation Search” (NGS) which gives clients the confidence to understand the values and motivations of the candidate as well as how that candidate matches with the values and culture of their organisation. Using world recognised behaviour assessment methodology we are able to measure candidate performance against the role they are currently in and how they would perform in our client organisation. This coupled with all the traditional methods of search and interviewing ensure both our clients and candidates remain better informed when making decisions.

Technology, as we all know, is no substitute for skill and experience in hiring. It can however provide a useful tool in giving a more science-based insight into the person you are hiring and with a 96% success rate in people staying in post more than 12 months, it works. It has enabled our clients to be confident in their hires during lockdown and we will use NGS to continue to support our clients as we, and they, continue to grow.

We have learnt a lot over Lockdown and will continue to use the technology available to complement the other planned events and services available. Going forward, whether it be through technology or in person, please take some time to come and have a chat with myself and/or the other members of the London Board. All our details are on the London Chapter page on BITA website.

Bridie Cunningham can be contacted directly to discuss the London Chapter of BITA, or your recruitment needs, at Tel: 07932 585601 or Email: b.cunningham@portmanscott.com