Partner Article

Redefining HR recruitment: Shrewd HR

Shrewd HR
www.shrewd-hr.co.uk
LinkedIn: Shrewd HR
Photography: Andrew Lowe

Recruitment is seldom a straightforward process. In a world of evolving employment law and regulatory reform, matching talent to businesses’ commercial and cultural objectives requires a considered approach. Relief then for Chester-le-Street-based Shrewd HR, whose newly-launched Shrewd Hire venture is helping organisations roll out robust HR recruitment strategies. Here, founder and managing director Martin Potts and head of Shrewd Hire Natalie Macpherson tell Steven Hugill how the company is allowing clients to lay strong growth foundations.

Arranged in regimented rows of neatly framed headshots, Durham cricketers adorn an upper-floor wall of the club’s Don Robson Pavilion.

Local heroes. County stalwarts. Global stars.

Each captures a moment in history, eras past and present colliding to create a sweeping pictorial timeline of the Chester-le-Street-based club’s evolution.

To trace every portrait is to piece together a story of ambition, growth, strategy and timing.

The recruitment process, though, is never as linear as an orderly gallery on a brilliant white wall.

And helping a growing number of organisations make the right employment decisions is Shrewd HR.

From an office inside Durham County Cricket Club’s Riverside Ground – which fittingly opens onto the long corridor of playing staff images – the firm has launched Shrewd Hire.

Focused on HR sector recruitment, it delivers nuance and equal measures of experience and expertise across an ever-evolving compliance environment, supporting businesses to add staff from entry-level roles to director positions.

But the venture represents far more than simply filling roster responsibilities.

Harnessing Shrewd HR’s wider portfolio, the service carries the same diagnostic approach that underpins the business’ support functions, which extend from day-to-day SME assistance to retained packages, multinational business backing and expert employment law guidance.

At its core is a people-centred methodology that melds the individual complexities of clients’ operations with honesty, challenge and careful judgement to provide unique responses to HR recruitment plans.

Martin Potts, Shrewd HR founder and managing director, says: “We are not a recruitment agency; however, if a business is seeking to recruit an HR employee, we can support that ambition through Shrewd Hire.

“But we go well beyond just creating a list of candidates.

“We call on the expertise of the wider Shrewd HR business to help clients assess if they need to employ an HR member of staff at that time, or if it might benefit from using our consultancy services to build towards a recruitment goal.

“It might not be the right time to recruit, but it could be in six months’ or a year’s time.

“And by providing support in that intervening period, we build an understanding of a business, which means, when the time is right to recruit, we know both the organisation’s culture and the required characteristics of the job.

“That allows us to present a much more refined cohort of candidates – a maximum of three – to a business.

“It is a comprehensive and joined-up service.”

Fostering such relationships, says head of Shrewd Hire Natalie Macpherson, provides clients with confidence while removing the spectre of a challenging cost cycle.

She says: “Businesses can often feel pressured to recruit, but when those decisions don’t work, they find themselves back in the same position.

“That is where Shrewd Hire is so valuable.

“By engaging with our wider services, clients can take a more cost-effective approach that buys time to reflect on what they really need: do they need to pursue a like-for-like staff replacement, or should they adjust their search criteria?”

The value of such a tailored toolkit, says CIPD-trained Natalie, extends to operational demands including maternity leave and employee crossover periods, with Shrewd Hire effectively operating from the centre of a wider Shrewd HR Venn diagram.

She says: “It all comes back to understanding the culture and character of a business.

“It also emphasises the value of being embedded in clients’ day-to-day HR operations,” says Natalie, who joined Shrewd HR – which is the official HR partner of Durham County Cricket Club, Newcastle Eagles, Durham-based True Padel and Durham Women Football Club – following time with a Sunderland-based HR recruitment agency.

She adds: “We show clients there is no need to rush an appointment.

“When it comes to maternity leave, for example, our wider suite of retained services ensures functions remain operational and compliant, while also helping the business financially because it isn’t needing to bring in a fixed-term member of staff.

“Similarly, if a business is recruiting a new head of HR, but hasn’t found a replacement before its existing staff member leaves, we can bridge the gap until it finds that right person.

“And we’re also adept at carrying out consultation sessions to deliver an information handover for that new member of staff, which not only provides them with great insight but takes the pressure and responsibility away from a business owner.”

Natalie adds: “Our support is hugely significant from a cultural perspective too.

“HR never stops, and our support ensures operations continue, while giving existing employees peace of mind that crucial HR functions are still being delivered.

“And it also provides business owners with fresh perspectives on staff development.

“Because our relationships allow us to have such open discussions, we are able to ask, for example, if they’ve considered recruiting an HR adviser alongside using our expertise to maintain services, so they can progress that person into an HR management role over future years.”

The focus on future growth is supported by Shrewd Hire’s sister venture Shrewd Coach, which is concentrated on nurturing HR professionals across numerous sectors.

Leaning on the experience of Shrewd HR’s seven-strong team, Natalie – a former cruise ship HR officer – says it will provide valuable support for seasoned and emerging HR staff.

She says: “An emerging HR professional might have their qualifications, but, if they’re appointed in a standalone role, might not have a sounding board to discuss potentially complex issues.

“Through our experience, though, we’re able to act as a close confidant to help de-escalate any issues very quickly.”

That guidance will be spearheaded by quarterly roundtable discussions, which are set to take place in boardroom space at Durham County Cricket Club from October.

Natalie says: “We want to set up an HR community that sparks peer-led conversations and questions about challenges, successes and recommendations across different industries.

“To that end, the roundtables – which will feature 12 to 13 people – will separately cater for senior HR people and emerging HR professionals.

“For emerging professionals, they will act as safe spaces for people in their first roles to bounce ideas off peers at similar stages in their careers.

“The sessions might cover areas such as TUPE, redundancies or formal processes, and we’re exploring the possibility of bringing people from our senior HR roundtables to act as guest speakers, so participants can develop knowledge that sets them apart when applying for future positions.”

Martin adds: “It’s all about providing a comprehensive service, which comes without bias and looks at a business’ structure with objectivity.

“If an organisation – of any size or sector – wants HR consultancy support; wants to build infrastructure to employ an HR professional for the first time; wants to train managers; or wants to grow its HR team, we are the go-to business.”

To learn more about Shrewd Hire, Shrewd Coach and Shrewd HR’s wider portfolio of services, which stretch from day-to-day SME support to retainer packages, multinational business backing and expert employment law guidance, visit the website at the top of this article.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by N Magazine .