Transforming Marcomms at a London University

Practicus has provided a number of Marketing and Communications specialists to the university since the award of the contract in 2021. As a university based in London, it was looking for a recruitment partner that had the experience and knowledge of the Higher Education sector to be able to source a high quality of candidates within the competitive London marketplace.

Undergoing a ten-year transformation plan, the University had implemented a new student recruitment strategy that sought to attract a greater number of students from the UK and internationally. The new strategy required a number of resources and skillsets that were not currently in place with its Marketing and Communications teams and it required further resource to manage its external branding and positioning. It was important that candidates had appropriate Higher Education and, specifically, journalism and/or communications experience to be able to ensure external communications were managed consistently and aligned to the marketing strategy.

The University engaged Practicus to deliver the following roles on an interim basis between 2021 and 2024:

• Social Media Manager
• Editor/Writer
• Corporate Communications Officer
• 4 x Senior Communications Officers

The university required specialist Higher Education experience from its recruitment partner coupled with the ability to source quality talent within its specific location that would meet its needs.

We delivered the full recruitment lifecycle for each role which encompassed:

• Full briefing – spending time with the university’s stakeholders to understand each role in detail, its requirements, motivations for the placement and what a quality candidate would look like.
• Search candidate networks – utilising our network of experienced Higher Education Marketing and Communications specialists across London and the UK to gauge availability, interest and positioning within the marketplace.
• Headhunting – reaching out to candidates not actively looking for a role to gauge interest, referrals and positioning within the market; positioning the university to candidates as an employer of choice and conveying its benefits.
• Advertising – using our reputation and influence via social media to advertise the roles to a wide diversity of talent, as well as utilising Higher Education-specific job boards and publications to further our reach.
• Screening and vetting candidates – carrying out standard screening processes (Right to Work, Visa, DBS, qualifications and references, etc) as well as in-depth vetting of each candidate to gain an understanding of their cultural fit, motivations, values and experience relevant to the role.
• Shortlisting & interviewing – supporting the university’s stakeholders and candidates throughout the shortlisting and interviewing process ensuring only candidates with the relevant experience and fit are presented and interviewed.
• Offer & onboarding – managing the offer process and assisting with candidate onboarding.
• After care – checking in with candidates and stakeholders at set intervals post start date to gain feedback and troubleshoot any issues.

As a result, we placed the candidates within two weeks of receipt of each request. Each successful candidate met and exceeded the university’s requirements for experienced resource that had the niche skills required for delivering against its marketing and communication strategy.

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