THE CLIENT

Our client is a fast-growing privately-owned healthcare group. It currently operates residential care homes with a strategy to rapidly grow the number of homes and expand the portfolio of services. The number of homes in the portfolio has grown significantly over the past 2 years through acquisition. The role is being fulfilled by the group CEO but in order to achieve the growth strategy there is a need for an experienced BD Director to identify suitable properties and acquisitions.

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY

THE ROLE AND ITS CHALLENGES

The role will be pivotal in increasing the number of properties in the portfolio and launching new services in line with the CEO’s vision. As the company is relatively small and fast growing it is essential that the new BD Director be able to work with a high level of autonomy and a company structure that is fast evolving. It is highly likely that the incumbent will be involved in all aspects of identifying new opportunities from researching demand, identifying property, full investment proposal through to acquisition and handover to the operations team.

The main challenges were identifying individuals had experience of the services that the healthcare group already ran or were proposing to launch in the future. In addition, this person would need to comfortable dealing with all aspects of a business development role which can typically be dealt with by separate teams in larger organisations.

THE SOLUTION AND RESULT

Having worked with the CEO before we knew what type of individual would thrive from a personality and values perspective. We were given a full briefing and very open discussion about the future plans and challenges.

We identified all the main competitors in this space and started to map out the employees that looked as though they were involved in BD, investment proposals and service launches. It was also a preference that the individual be based near to the head office so they could be present a few days per week, although there was a high degree of flexibility from the CEO.

Having identified 67 people that fitted the brief we embarked on our structured communication plan. There was a very good response rate and a high proportion of the researched Candidates responded. The role and future career path were very strong so it was a good opportunity to present to the market.

Following a high number of initial calls we interviewed a total of 9 Candidates. From this 9 we presented 4 to the CEO, all of which were interviewed. 2 were progressed to final interviews, with one Candidate being offered the position and accepting.