Victoria Jackson, Chief People Officer – BCN

"BCN was looking to appoint a Chief Operating Officer to our Executive Board, a key role for the business with overarching responsibility for service and delivery.

We had been to some of the larger recruiting firms, who were slick and professional, but they just simply didn't understand us as a business. Mallory Partners were recommended to us, and following some additional research of my own, we invited them in and they won a competitive pitch to work with us on the role.

When we first met with Martin and John they didn't ask questions about the role, or the person we were looking for, they were more interested in us as a business - both as a team and as individuals - and what good looked and felt like to us. We introduced them to other members of our Executive Board, to really get under the skin of our culture and our quirks and try and identify the missing piece of the jigsaw in our c-suite that we needed to fill with this new role.

I felt they were trying to understand us in the way we understand ourselves. They focused very much on cultural fit and on matching the passion and desire for success we have within the business.

Locality was important in the search criteria. We are based in Manchester, with an office in Leeds, and have a great hybrid working structure but, along with skills and experience and cultural fit, we really did want to find someone who was able to get into one of our offices quickly when the need arose. That perhaps limited our search a little, but the long list of candidates they provided us with was very strong and very detailed. What I particularly liked was that they ranked candidates against the different criteria we were looking for, so it might be that one was 100% a match on skills and cultural fit, but only a 90% match on geography. That helped us to really focus on our true priorities.

The communications from Mallory Partners were excellent throughout. I spoke mostly with John and at some points we were talking two or three times a week. In fact, I really looked forward to my chats with him. He also managed challenges with our availability and communication with the candidates extremely well.

Mallory Partners really took the the heavy lifting out of the whole process for me, and delivered a fabulous, brilliant shortlist. We discussed each stage with them in detail; in all honesty, John felt like an extension of me and my team. In Mike, they have found that missing piece of our jigsaw. He fits perfectly with the BCN culture and shares our desire, passion and dedication to the business.

There is not a single aspect of Mallory Partners' service that could have been any better. if anybody needs a recommendation, they will be the first name on my list and, if we need to make another senior appointment, I will pick up the phone to them without hesitation."