Listen. Advise. Deliver.

Recruitment Challenge: Attracting talent with commercial finance experience

Nick Sambridge, Finance Director – IT and Transformation, explains that his biggest recruitment challenge for Post Office Ltd is attracting senior finance professionals with commercial experience.

“When I needed an interim Financial Controller at very short notice for my client, Dukes global, Cedar were the obvious choice. They were able to quickly understand the specific requirements that we had and within 48 hours, I had been sent five good quality CVs and “When I needed an interim Financial Controller at very short notice for my client, Dukes global, Cedar were the obvious choice. They were able to quickly understand the specific requirements that we had and within 48 hours, I had been sent five good quality CVs and had interviewed two candidates. The candidate we chose has provided excellent support to the business. Great service from Cedar.”had interviewed two candidates. The candidate we chose has provided excellent support to the business. Great service from Cedar.”

“We retained cedar to help us find a high calibre CFO. Cedar met with our senior management team to fully understand the complexities of both the organisation and role and to get a real sense of our culture. They provided us with expert guidance on how we should approach the candidate market and then quickly created a strong short list from which we subsequently hired.

Cedar pride themselves on being true consultants and genuine value adding partners. We were very impressed by the quality of the candidates they presented and the pace at which they worked. Cedar’s thoroughness and consultative advice through the process gave us a great sense of confidence that this critical hire was being managed by true professionals.

I will work with cedar again and would have no hesitation in recommending them to any business looking to recruit senior finance and procurement professionals.”

“We commissioned Cedar to fill a challenging Senior Strategy Manager role which required a very specific set of competencies. Cedar not only provided a fast and efficient service but were a pleasure to work with, responsive and accommodating of our recruitment timescales. They identified relevant individuals in a highly  professional manner and constantly demonstrated a clear commitment to succeed. I would not hesitate to recommend Cedar and will be working with then again in the future.”

“Cedar has placed a number of strong candidates within our Finance team and we can always rely on their promptness, quality and professionalism.”

“I was very impressed with the level of service we received from the team at Cedar. From the outset, the approach was both personal and professional. Having met with Cedar initially, they understood exactly what I was looking for and were able to work within a short time-frame to provide suitable candidates for the roles I was looking to fill. The candidates were all very suitable, my only issue was having to make a choice given the quality of the individuals I had been presented with!

Cedar were responsive to any queries I had and provided information requested within the same day. Having experienced their service previously, I returned to Cedar as soon as I had a requirement for an additional resource, and again, the service was very efficient and the post filled within two days of my request. I would definitely recommend Cedar and will be using their services again should the need arise in the future.”

“Belron UK recently engaged Cedar to support recruitment for an urgent interim requirement. Cedar quickly established our requirements, both technically and culturally and provided a shortlist of CVs along with succinct candidate profiles. This meant we were able to quickly appoint the right candidate for delivery of a key project and we will be working with Cedar again to fulfil other requirements across the business. It was a pleasure to partner with a professional agency who provided an outstanding service.”

Recruitment Challenge : Finding people from the right vertical

Roger Castle from CenturyLink explains that his biggest recruitment challenge is finding people from the right vertical –  finding both commercial experience and the right sector experience for the role.