Case Study: Caliper helps School Governors

Caliper has worked with Hozelock for a number of years in the recruitment and development of its staff. Recently the relationship has led to Caliper being an important part of a very successful recruitment campaign. Peter Rush, Managing Director of Hozelock tells you more….

As the Managing Director of Hozelock, a £90m turnover business, recruiting the right person for the job is an important part of my role. During the past 3 years we have utilised Caliper to provide profiling of short listed candidates. The technique has proved to be extremely useful and in our experience 90% accurate. We use it as a key part of the recruitment process (it is a part of the jigsaw) which includes interviews, presentations and case studies. We have successfully recruited managers and staff in almost every discipline throughout the business from sales through to engineering and production to finance and HR.

My involvement with the Abbotsford School in Kenilworth began earlier this year when I became Chair of the Council of Management, in effect Managing Director of the School. Within a few weeks of assuming this role the present Head Teacher resigned from his position as he was offered a fantastic opportunity to work in Scotland (near friends and family). As a result the Council of Management, led by myself, embarked on a journey to find a replacement. We advertised in the Times Educational Supplement and subsequently had interest from approximately 30 prospective candidates. My experience of recruiting key staff in Industry was essential in guiding the Council in its selection process. I was keen to have not only a full day of assessment for the candidates but I was also keen for them to undertake Caliper profiling. Unfortunately none of the Council members had experience of profiling so I had to use my own experience to stress the advantages of such a tool. The proposal was, after much persuasion on my part, carried unanimously and a plan put in place.

Adherence to deadlines was crucial; we had 5 days from identifying the shortlist to undertaking the assessment day. I worked closely, with Caliper on agreeing the key milestones, this included providing applicants e-mail addresses, for those undertaking the profiling online, Caliper assessing the responses, verbal feedback and written reports. We had 5 short listed candidates and on the night before the assessment day all members of the assessment panel had copies of the individual assessments in their hand. The whole process worked like clockwork, even to the point of the verbal feedback being given at 8-30am to 9-30am on the morning before the assessment (this was the only time when I was free). Interestingly this feedback was given by a member of the Caliper team who was also a school governor and so could relate very closely to the job specification that we had given.

The assessment days consisted of each applicant meeting the School Council, undertaking a presentation to a panel, having a tour of the school followed by discussions with staff and finally an interview. The Caliper Profile was used throughout the day as a reference guide but it came into its own during the interview where questions related to each individuals profile and developed by Caliper were put to the applicants, this proved to be very searching and telling for the candidates and assessors alike.

At the end of the assessment day the entire Council reviewed the activities of the day and the performance of each of the candidates. The profiling was again very accurate; all the Council members were astonished at how the verbal and written feedback from Caliper matched their own experiences of meeting the candidates throughout the day. They took genuine comfort knowing that they had an independent report which supported their own feelings.

From all the elements of the assessment day and the Caliper Profile we selected a new Head Teacher. He has accepted the position and will start on November 3rd 2008.

The Caliper Profile is in my experience, exceptionally useful. It provides a “heads up” on candidates; it helps to focus on key interview questions and reinforces subjective thoughts on candidates make up. I would not use it in isolation but would wholeheartedly recommend it to Businesses and Schools alike.