Recruitment manager perfect role for people person Lisa

The design and delivery of recruitment and selection processes is all in a day's work for Lisa Thompson as she aims to attract the best people to the BBC. Nigel Tilson reports

Lisa Thompson: 'I always wanted to work with people, and even as a child studying psychology was something I was keen to do. Since then it's really been a case of making the right decisions - deciding to study occupational psychology, becoming a management consultant and taking the role as a recruitment manager'

What does your job entail?

I'm the recruitment manager for BBC HR Direct, based at Capita Business Services' new shared service centre in Belfast.

My role involves providing an end-to-end recruitment service to the BBC on behalf of Capita, from the initial planning of the recruitment campaign through advertising, assessment, interview and the final job offer.

I'm responsible for approximately 50 staff across five teams.

The recruitment project managers manage the recruitment campaigns and liaise with hiring managers in the BBC.

The recruitment administration team liaises with candidates and issues all candidate correspondence and the recruitment response team is the first point of contact for all recruitment-related enquiries.

I also look after the contracts team which generates and issues all permanent and fixed-term contracts to people joining the BBC, and the work experience team which manages the centralised BBC work experience placement scheme.

There can be between 10,000 and 15,000 applications received per month for approximately 400 to 500 vacancies. And the BBC jobs site attracts three million hits per month, so we are really busy.

The other half of my role involves regular liaison with key BBC staff.

I'm responsible for reporting back to the BBC on our service delivery and our performance.

I am a member of a joint BBC/BBC HR Direct Change Group to review and assess the impact of any proposed changes to our processes.

The BBC human resources contract was awarded to Capita in April 2006 and went live earlier this year. It's hugely exciting to be involved in the set-up and transfer of BBC HR services to Belfast.

How did you get into this line of work?

Prior to joining Capita, I worked with the company as part of an alliance in the initial design of HR processes for the outsourcing of HR for a large Northern Ireland public sector client.

Capita's reputation as the largest provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) in the UK, combined with its vastly growing presence in Northern Ireland over the last few years, gave me an opportunity to build on the recruitment expertise I have developed over the years and provide it to a new and exciting client.

Outline your career to date.

I worked as a management consultant with Pricewaterhouse- Coopers, specialising in the design and delivery of client recruitment and selection processes.

I worked with some fantastic clients and learned a lot from the great people that I had the pleasure of working with.

I believe it was this experience which prepared me for the new challenges of my role with Capita.

I was very happy in my previous role and wasn't actively looking to move on, but sometimes when a great opportunity presents itself you just have to go for it 100%.

I'm fortunate to work with fantastic people at Capita and enjoy the constantly changing challenges of an operational role, and I still make sure I keep in touch with my former colleagues whom I now count as great friends.

Tell us about your qualifications/training.

I studied for a BSc (hons) in psychology at Queen's University, Belfast. I completed an MSc in occupational psychology, through which I gained further qualifications which allow me to administer and interpret a range of psychometric tests.

I also completed a course in job analysis and competency design and various internal consulting and management-related training courses.

Did you always want to work in your chosen sector?

I always wanted to work with people, and even as a child studying psychology was something I was keen to do.

Since then it's really been a case of making the right decisions - deciding to study occupational psychology, becoming a management consultant and taking the role as a recruitment manager.

What qualities are required for your position - personal and professional?

First, managing relationships is important as maintaining an excellent relationship with the BBC is paramount in delivering this type of service.

Second, it's important to be able to manage people. I have a team of 50 and direct line management responsibility for a team of 11.

I can't stress how important it is to value your team and continually provide constructive feedback to help them successfully deliver to the best of their ability and prepare for additional responsibilities in the future.

The contract with the BBC is still young so another vital quality is adaptability and being able to cope with changing demands, as is the case with any new service.

What do you do day to day?

No two days are ever the same, which makes for an interesting and rewarding role.

I have regular meetings with all of my teams to discuss how things are going, to share knowledge and to ensure I'm aware of any issues that need to be escalated to me.

I also attend regular senior management meetings within Capita in which we review our service provision and discuss current projects as well as any operational priorities such as recruitment and training of new staff.

I'm involved in a talent management working group, too, and I'm working to review our internal role descriptions.

I also attend client meetings with the BBC to review our service and discuss any changes to processes.

Recently I have established links with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), another service delivered by Capita, to ensure we capture and implement the good practice already in place there.

Detail any recent projects that are reflective of your job and your industry.

I have recently led the successful transfer of all BBC recruitment administration from London and the nations and regions to the team in Belfast.

This involved designing how we would deliver the service from Belfast, recruiting and training the team, piloting our service and reviewing its effectiveness prior to going live with all recruitment administration.

What makes working in your industry interesting and challenging?

We're delivering a new service, in the very early days of delivery, so every day I learn something new and come up against a new challenge.

What career progression opportunities are available?

Capita is extremely focused on its people and on recognising and rewarding them.

With the current contracts in place there are opportunities to progress and already many staff have been promoted to new roles.

The future looks very bright for Capita, which itself presents additional opportunities going forward.

What kind of personality do you need to operate within your chosen industry?

I think you need to be a people person and thrive on activity and being busy.

You also need to be very open to change and looking at new ways of doing things.

You need to be resilient at times and entirely focused on delivering - and exceeding - expectations.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

My husband and I have recently moved into a newly-built house which at the moment is a bit of a concrete box.

However, we love to get stuck in and do the DIY ourselves, so every spare second at the moment is spent painting or tiling.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I got married in Italy last year, on the beautiful Amalfi coast, with 22 of my closest family and friends present. The service was in Italian and translated into English, and was everything I could have wished for. I would strongly recommend it to anyone planning to walk down the aisle.

Who has inspired you most in your life?

My mum and dad. My mum has devoted her life to bringing up my sister and me. They instilled really strong values in us and taught us to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. They have always been 100% supportive.