Dame Julie Mellor
I have worked with Starfish Search in the context of several organisations. I Chair two cross party think tanks (Demos and the Young Foundation) and the Skills Federation (an employer led sector skills trade body) and I sit on the boards of two public involvement charities (Engage Britain and Involve). All five organisations have used Starfish Search for either Board or Executive search and selection, almost always through a competitive process. Having been involved in senior appointments for 25 years, I love working with Starfish because they are better than anyone else at getting to the heart of an organisation’s needs at the particular point in its strategic cycle and organisational development. Their playback of our needs and subsequent production of a brief are second to none. On every assignment they have demonstrated an intuitive understanding of the drivers and values that influence the diverse candidate communities they are searching in and are well able to persuade candidates outside of mainstream talent pools to apply. Their advice is clear and grounded in practical experience. Their compact business model and advisory approach means they have a grip on progress and reporting and are personally available to advise as the search progresses.
Unpredictable Times, Unstoppable Leaders
In an age of heightened sensitivity, it’s no surprise that organisations and the people running them can feel as though they are constantly working under an intense public and media spotlight.
Expert Interim Talent: How to Launch Your Portfolio Career
Today's business landscape demands agility and specialised expertise. Discover how to leverage your skills across diverse, high-impact projects, gaining unprecedented flexibility and autonomy. Forget "holding the fort", modern interims are strategic leaders, driving change and delivering results in times of transformation.
Recruiting leaders in perilous times
Leadership appointments have always carried weight, but in the current climate they carry a different kind of exposure. For those of us working at the interface between Boards and candidates, it is clear that the rules of engagement have shifted, and that executive search must shift with them.
ACCREDITATIONS
ESPO is a public sector owned professional buying organisation (PBO), specialising in providing a wide range of goods and services to the public sector for over 40 years. Starfish Search has been awarded a place on ESPO’s Strategic HR Services framework (3S). Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 1, Executive and Managerial Interim Recruitment Lot 2, Executive and Managerial Permanent Recruitment.
Starfish are proud to be certified Disability Confident Committed. This scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.
Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers. Starfish Search has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s Executive and Non-Executive recruitment. Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 3 - Non-Executive and Public Appointments.
Bloom, launched in 2012 is the UK’s leading marketplace for professional services. They provide an end-to-end solution for the procurement, contract management and payment of all professional services, via the compliant NEPRO³ framework. Their public sector clients have access to 20 professional services categories and over 4500 accredited suppliers. Bloom provides swift routes to market via either direct award or mini competition. Starfish is an accredited supplier to BLOOM; our services can be accessed via this framework - Executive and Non-Executive Search and Interim Management.
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