Board Practice

It’s been great to work with the Starfish team on two recent Exec appointments at YHA. From the outset the team impressed with their responsiveness, keenness to engage with us and our mission, and ability to work at pace to a very challenging timetable. The search was extensive and led to an impressive and wide-ranging field of applicants, from which we have been delighted to appoint two excellent candidates. Starfish’s service throughout has been personal, attentive and very quickly in tune with YHA, our values and our recruitment approach. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

Carnegie UK worked with Starfish Search to recruit six new trustees. As a Scotland-based foundation with a mission to work across the populations and geographies of the UK and Ireland, we wanted to attract a diverse and curious cohort of people to join our Board. From the outset, our partners at Starfish listened carefully to what mattered to us and did their research extremely well. The recruitment panel was impressed by the breadth of the proposed longlist and was able to construct a shortlist of highly credible candidates that we could not have achieved without Starfish’s expert help. We are delighted with the resulting trustee appointments. Support from the Starfish team was excellent throughout, from strategic guidance about Board composition and the approach to recruitment, to the logistics of preparing paperwork, arranging interviews, and securing insightful references. We cannot recommend them highly enough.”

We had sterling service from Starfish Search throughout the appointment process for our new Chair. Their sophistication of understanding about the nuances of governance, the thoroughness of the search process (not to mention the strength of their address books) plus the quality of advice was consistently impressive. As a network entity, weaving stakeholder engagement into the process was really important to us and Starfish were able to help us devise a flexible process, which delivered a high-quality shortlist and a fantastic result. This felt like a real partnership throughout

The Starfish team proved to be invaluable partners in supporting our simultaneous search for a new CEO and Chair – an incredibly important and pivotal moment for any charity and one of the most important things I will probably ever be involved in as a trustee. From the get-go the Starfish team posed salient questions and offered sage advice to help shape our search. They did not shy away from the difficult issues. And, throughout, the team consistently offered insight and guidance, alongside good humour and perseverance, as we adapted our approach in response to what we learned along the way. Thanks to Starfish’s hard work and support, I’m confident and excited about the next chapter for PLUS under the leadership of our new CEO and Chair.”

Registry Trust used Starfish to assist with recruitment for non-executive director roles and an executive role within the organisation. We canvased a few different firms prior to selecting Starfish, and were struck by the approach Starfish took. There was a real sense of ownership and responsibility, with a determination to drill into what skills and capabilities we needed for each role. Starfish were able to help us articulate the role(s) we were looking to fill in a concise and accessible way. During the initial process, which included drafting the role description, and advertisement, we were able to rely heavily on the expertise at Starfish. We’ve also had positive feedback from applicants (successful and unsuccessful) who’ve been introduced to us by Starfish. Applicants have proactively commented on how smooth and professional they have found the whole process, which seems to me wholly indicative of the approach that Starfish take – consummate professionals throughout, irrespective of whom they are dealing with.”

As Deputy Chair of Bowel Cancer UK, I recently worked with Starfish in the recruitment process for our next Chair. We chose their team because of the value they placed in their pitch on their knowledge of the market and deep candidate care – and we were not disappointed. We made an outstanding Chair appointment and really felt that the Starfish team were an important part of making that possible, through their perceptive judgement about candidates, their thorough written and verbal briefings, their support of me and the panel to prepare for really effective and welcoming interviews, and in their support of candidates.

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.

I have always had great respect for you as an industry leader and the ethos and approach you bring to ensuring fair and quality recruitment. I have watched Starfish go from strength to strength and make some truly excellent appointments. Your ability to reach high calibre and quality candidates is well known and can only be down to the end knowledge and professionalism of you and your excellent team.

From the beginning they impressed the appointments committee and they did not disappoint. In the course of our partnership they made a total of 15 appointments in executive and non-executive capacities. I have been both a client and a candidate in appointments processes led by the team. Their experience of recruiting to start-up organisations and to not-for-profit businesses was extremely valuable as was their advice during the different campaigns. Given their background and expertise in appointing to a variety of boards, they proved they were able to fill each appointment with the priority skills identified by us. They became credible ambassadors in the market for us, no mean feat for an organisation that was still in formation and which already had its detractors in the press and social media. Their own business model is one which enables them to provide a concentrated service which adapts quickly to accommodate changing demands. What impresses me most about Starfish Search is the ethical foundation on which they are built and which drives all that they do. have a real sense that this firm cares about customer satisfaction, the quality of its work, and the overall impact of its mission.”