The appointment of a senior leader is always important but even more so for a UK regulated organization. A holder of the Senior Manager Function (SMF) might be accountable for key actions, decisions that impact consumers, and have clearly defined personal responsibilities. It’s not enough to find someone with a killer career track record. The firm wants someone whose experience, judgement and approach are right for the exact function they will be doing.
Under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, those doing prescribed senior management functions normally need to be approved by the regulator before they may start in their capacity. Each SMF holder must also have a Statement of Responsibilities that sets out their areas of responsibility. The recruitment process consequently needs to go beyond what the candidate has delivered, to whether they have the capabilities to deliver this particular function in this particular firm.
It is not something a professional recruiter can decide on behalf of the organization or promise permission. But they can assist the firm to establish the demand, identify the right applicants and compile the evidence for a well-informed appointment. Here are the primary reasons to get one.
Better understanding of the role
Two separate jobs that may sound like senior-level jobs could actually need completely different skills. The expectations of a leader will vary with the activities, structure, hazards and allocation of duties of the organization. A successful candidate at a large organization with plenty of assistance may be less suitable to a smaller business where they have to interact closely with day-to-day operations.
Begin by questioning the brief, says a specialist recruiter. What decisions will the appointed person be responsible for? Which teams will they look after? Where do their duties intersect with the duties of other leaders? What are the issues they will have to face in first year? Those questions help translate a broad job description into meaningful selection criteria.
This is important because general requirements tend to yield shortlists that look good but are bad matches. But if you define the function before approaching prospects, you’ll have a more honest base for both sides to debate.
Limited access to talent pool
Senior regulated posts require a mixture of leadership abilities, appropriate experience and willingness to take on considerable accountability. Finding that mix through a generic advertisement is not always easy.
A recruiter who specialises in this area, such as SMFCapital, will have experienced professionals who are not actively looking for jobs but might consider the right offer. They can go to those people behind the scenes and talk about the post in words likely to matter to senior candidates: what their authority will be, what challenges lie ahead and what assistance will be available to them.
Access is more than simply generating more names. It is useful in that it flags those who have a background that demands a serious talk. A directed search can also show if the company’s goals are feasible. If the experience, location, salary and timetable desired don’t match, it’s preferable to find out early rather than after weeks of unsuccessful interviews.
Beyond the CV: A better evaluation
A CV shows where someone worked and what jobs they had. It is less good at illustrating how they made difficult decisions, how they reacted to challenge, or how they juggled competing commercial and regulatory agendas.
A skilled recruiter can frame the initial discussions around evidence. Instead of just asking if a candidate has led a function before, they might question what the individual was directly accountable for, how they found difficulties, and what they did when an established way of working needed to change. The shortlist should allow the hiring organization to identify individual contribution from the achievements of a bigger team.
These discussions are particularly helpful when candidates are from different-sized organisations and different business styles. Someone may have lots of experience but need help in an unfamiliar situation. Another candidate may have a less impressive title but more relevant experience in the actual task of the job.
More Attention to Fitness and Decorum
Regulated enterprises must assess the fitness and propriety of potential holders of SMFs. Honesty, integrity and reputation; competence and capability; and financial soundness are relevant aspects. Proper due diligence is necessary and companies should not be depending on the impression gained from an interview or the word of a recruiter.
This assessment can be assisted by a specialist recruiter who knows the questions to ask up front and can identify issues that require additional investigation. They can help the firm build a standard technique to measure experience, seek missing parts in a candidate’s history or explain if the candidate understands the duties entailed.
It is crucial to distinguish between support and responsibility. The firm does its own assessment, the necessary checks and the application. A good recruiter improves the quality of information available to decision-makers, but does not replace the firm’s compliance, governance or approval processes.
A more formalised recruitment process
Senior appointments are frequently multi-stakeholder processes, with each stakeholder seeing the candidate through a distinct lens. The board may be focused on leadership and strategy, while individuals responsible for risk or compliance may be focused on monitoring, controls and decision making. Candidates may receive conflicting information, and interviewers may be judging different iterations of the job without a shared brief.
A specialist recruiter can keep the purpose clear and organise the process. They can set assessment criteria with the firm, prepare candidates for the topic of the discussions and get feedback quickly. They can also help ensure that issues raised in one interview are adequately followed up on in the next, rather than falling through the cracks.
That organization is a good one in a situation where a vacancy presses speedy hiring. A rigorous procedure doesn’t make the process any less urgent, but it does make it less likely that you’ll confuse availability or interview confidence with fit.
Practical help on what candidates want
A senior management post will be as attractive to experienced individuals as the firm will be to them. They may wish to know about reporting lines, decision-making authority, resources available and the limits of their tasks. Uncertain answers can discourage a good candidate, especially when the position looks to have a lot of responsibility but little ability to really manage it.
A specialist recruiter can collect those questions up front and take them back to the hiring team. This gives the firm the opportunity to eliminate any doubt before the offer is made. It also supports candidates in making an informed judgement about whether the role is a good fit with their experience and appetite for responsibility.
Honesty in communication protects both parties. An acceptance may be bought by overselling the opportunity, but it does little to develop the trust necessary for a successful senior hire.
Support by checks and approval
The period between picking a preferred applicant and them commencing employment needs to be managed carefully. Depending on the function and firm, the process may also include regulatory references, criminal records checks and the approval application. Regulatory guidance states that due diligence and application is the responsibility of the regulated firm.
A recruiter that understands these appointments may assist maintain a realistic timeframe and keep the candidate engaged and ensure outstanding information is discussed with the proper individuals. They can also help to avoid any uncertainty regarding a suggested start date: selection by the firm should not be interpreted as permission to start executing a function requiring prior approval.
The advantage is not that a recruiter can speed up or influence a regulator’s decision. That is, the recruitment phase of the process can stay orderly when the firm does its own duties.
Long run a better match for
The cost of a bad senior hire is more than having to restart a search. A bad hire can throw teams off, slow decision making and make it tougher to have clear accountability. So a specialised recruiter should care less about whether a prospect can get the job, and more about if they are likely to succeed in it.
This includes thinking about leadership style, the stage the firm is in its development cycle and the practical hurdles the new appointee will inherit. It could also imply encouraging the firm to evaluate an attractive individual whose experience does not fit a vital need. The most valuable recruiter is not the one who always agrees with the hiring team; it’s the one who helps them make a better-supported decision.
Selecting a skilled recruiter does not replace the necessity for rigorous internal judgement. The function still needs to be defined by the firm, and the individual assessed, and the firm still has its regulatory responsibilities to fulfil. What expert recruiting can deliver is a more concentrated search, more informed talks and a clearer picture of each candidate’s suitability. But the extra rigour can be well worth it for an appointment with great responsibility.