From brief to hire in under 10 days
As our client expanded through a run of acquisitions, its finance leaders found themselves stretched between growing the business and keeping day-to-day payroll running. They needed a dedicated payroll hire, fast. Here's how Sewell Wallis helped them find the right person in under 10 days.
The Challenge
Our client is a fast-growing group in the healthcare space, and was in the midst of an ambitious acquisition drive. As they scaled, their finance function became more complex, and tasks which had previously been managed by senior members of the finance team were no longer feasible. One of these was payroll, and a new role was created to be fully responsible for this.
Transactional finance recruitment is notoriously time-heavy, with high volumes of applications, many of which don't meet the bar, all while a gap in the team piles more work onto already-stretched leadership.
The payroll position needed to be filled quickly, and with someone who was the right person fit and could manage a scaling workload as the business continued to make acquisitions.
Our Approach
Inci, who leads Sewell Wallis's transactional finance recruitment, took the brief on 12th August. She had worked with this client before, on admin roles, so she knew the type of person that fit within the business, but not necessarily within the finance team — a detailed briefing call was the way forward here.
The role came with real constraints: initially, the role was a fixed-term contract, and although it had the likelihood of going permanent, this was a bit of a detractor for some candidates. There was also a strong preference for candidates who were immediately available to plug the gap in the team and free up senior leadership's time as soon as possible.
Roles within the transactional market typically attract a lot of applications, and you have to move quickly on the talent that is available as it gets snapped up quite quickly. Inci sent over two well matched, immediately available candidates within two days of being briefed. In a market with a large volume of applicants but a thin layer of genuinely strong candidates, Inci moved quickly to cut through the noise — sending across two well-matched CVs within two days, on 14th August.
The Outcome
Both candidates were interviewed the following week.
One progressed to a second-stage interview, received an offer, and accepted, all within 10 days of the brief being taken.
The successful candidate started the following week, giving our client a dedicated payroll hire and freeing up the FC and FD to focus on the next stage of the business's acquisition strategy.
No time to waste?
Transactional finance recruitment can eat up hours you don't have, trying to spot the right fit in a crowded market. Our team takes that weight off your hands, moving quickly without cutting corners, so you get candidates worth your time, not just your time back.
If you're a business leader who needs a transactional finance hire fast, get in touch with our team to find out how we work.
If you're a transactional finance candidate looking for your next role, you can check out our live vacancies below.