Recruiting for Analysts Session background: This session involved a short presentation by panel members and then workshops where different groups discussed their recruitment experiences, these notes come from both the panel members and the groups Panel: Ruth Smyth – RSPB, Shaun Williams –PDSA, David Dipple – Tangible Data, Ben Smith - Amnesty What competencies are needed? The groups were asked to share their top 3, these are listed in bold below: Communication skills x 2 – especially the ability to lead a discussion and gather requirements Analytical thinking Diligence / professionalism Drive Technical skills x 2 Understanding of charity fundraising Understanding of stats Ability to make sense of and translate data Thirst, willingness to learn and ability to apply Don’t need to be too formally qualified but need application to business Numerical skills Attention to detail Individual and team worker Logical thinker Time management / planning, responsiveness Expectation management Results driven – don’t get bogged down with the detail Creative and forward thinking Patience Challenging, probing, inquisitive Problem solving Insightful Data visualisation Flexibility / adaptability Plain-speaking Methodical Caring & honest regarding work / mistakes Ability to absorb knowldge We discussed how important charity experience is – it helps with the language needed but isn’t vital This makes sure they can apply themselves even when the task is boring! Some thoughts from the panel: Communication skills are the most important Need to be able to communication with IT, finance & marketing Make sure you don’t just recruit in your own image! Shaun shared his top 7 tips for recruitment – see last slide…

Recruiting for Analysts What works well when recruiting? Asking about experience Student placements Networking – online sources, linked in etc Testing skills e.g. how approach simple questions, whether understand marketing concepts Using a good agency who understand the requirements Picking a recruitment agency carefully Another idea was to do more telephone interviews to check the candidate has the rights skills – also for candidates to phone employers because it makes a good impression What is challenging when recruiting? Very small pool of people to recruit from Getting someone with good communication skills Charity specific agencies aren’t always the best place to go People looking good on paper & not in interview The ‘unknown’ factor – candidate not knowing about job role, employer not knowing about skills & personality Selling the role Finding people with the passion and communication skills Organisational fit Prior charity experience Replacing someone very respected / been there so long Creating fair tests (short notice presentations) Changing nature of the role e.g. new analysis, web data Steep learning curve in analysis because need to know how the organisation works ‘Specialist’ yet a broad skill set required Varying analysis set-up within charities Budget Needing people with more than one skill Shaun Williams said this has worked really well for PDSA due to their location We talked about how its also very important to hang onto good people – David Dipple suggested shackles! David said his favourite question is to ask someone to explain standard deviation as if taking to a non-technical person I said David was scary! I also talked to people over wine in the evening & the following thoughts came up: Job descriptions don’t always match the job If you’re lucky enough to have a team you don’t need every skill in one person

1.Conduct a Marketing/Fundraising situational analysis 2.Develop a clear understanding of the organisations needs 3.Design the analytical team structure around defined business needs 4.Build a skills/needs matrix to focus organisational requirements (Critical v Nice to have) 5.Consider your selection process & evaluation criteria 6.Develop your management framework 7.Consider YOUR specific critical success factors Recruiting for Analysts - Shaun Williams’ 7 steps for successful recruitment