Wickland Westcott

TFL - Senior Executive Recruitment

Recruiting for very senior positions is always interesting as each role presents a different set of challenges. This was the case when Transport for London (TfL) recently entrusted Wickland Westcott with the task of finding a candidate for the newly created role of Managing Director, Marketing and Communications. The unique demands of the role and circumstances surrounding the appointment made for a fascinating assignment, as John Fortescue of Wickland Westcott explains:

"TfL is one of the world's leading transport authorities and is responsible for London's strategic transport network. The newly created role of Managing Director, Marketing and Communications is therefore a crucial position and it brings together key disciplines such as marketing, media, stakeholder management, internal communications and customer service. As TfL is part of the Greater London Assembly family under the Mayor's chairmanship, the position also involves managing a variety of stakeholder relationships."

High profile responsibilities

TfL recognised that a key part of keeping London's enormous volumes of domestic and international traffic moving lies in keeping the travelling public informed and improving the travel experience. To this end, the responsibilities of the new role included the creation of London-wide marketing campaigns to inform people's choices, encourage sustainable travel, and promote new transport developments.

In addition, other high profile responsibilities include building relationships with business advocacy groups, customers and their representatives and local communities. The new managing director must ensure that TfL's three main transport goals (supporting economic development, tackling climate change & enhancing the environment, improving social inclusion) are promoted and feedback taken on board.

The challenges of finding the right person

The content of the role made it challenging to identify candidates with all the necessary technical and interpersonal skill sets. Moreover, candidates fulfilling all these criteria frequently commanded premium remuneration packages. TfL's strong desire to encourage applications from under-represented groups and the need to meet ethnicity and diversity requirements provided additional and important dimensions to the assignment.

Other key challenges Wickland Westcott needed to manage included:

• Attracting candidates from public and private sectors, rather than simply encouraging applicants with a public sector background.
• Finding candidates capable of integrating and driving marketing, press and public relations initiatives simultaneously.
• Identifying people who would take a proactive approach to managing complex stakeholder relations, such as those between the different modes of transport as well as those between TfL, central Government, and the Mayor's office.
• Ensuring candidates would be capable of motivating an 800 person team to proactively deliver a complex long-term vision developed between TfL and the Mayor.

Casting a wide net

In seeking the breadth of technical and management skills, a hybrid approach to recruitment was taken, using national press advertisements plus a wide search in the public and private sectors to find someone who truly identified with the vision, whilst attracting ethnic groups and satisfying diversity requirements.

From the many hundreds of candidates identified, Wickland Westcott presented a long list of eleven suitably qualified individuals from diverse backgrounds and differing levels of salary and experience.

The right man for the job

At the end of the Wickland Westcott search process, Vernon Everitt, a Director from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), was appointed. With broad internal and external communications and commercial background, he had experience of managing a large team and working strategically with interested parties including Whitehall and Trade associations. In addition, he had worked in HR, project management and marketing on the retail and consumer side of the FSA and had a proven record of delivering high quality, high impact results.

A successful outcome

Ultimately, TfL was able to appoint an excellent candidate for this very public and prominent role. The appointment comes at a fascinating time for London and TfL with both the forthcoming Mayoral elections and preparations for the 2012 Olympics in the background. We at Wickland Westcott were delighted therefore to be able to bring to bear our knowledge and expertise of senior level recruitment to support our client in making this important appointment.