Chris Ward

Corsearch’s leading Trademark and Brand & Content Protection Solutions are revolutionizing how companies create, monitor, and protect their brands. Over 5,000 businesses worldwide partner with Corsearch to safeguard consumers and their trust in brands — preventing confusion, misrepresentation, and fraud using the hybrid intelligence of advanced AI precision and expert decision of human analysts.

I lead our Talent Acquisition function and global strategy across the US, UK, Europe (Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Finland, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden), India and China.

My role involves workforce planning, strategy implementation including continuous process improvement - while leading our wider TA team to ensure we can attract, hire and retain talent

Results for 2024:

• 50,000+ applications reviewed, 13,000 profiles shortlisted, 3,000 interviews, 700 offers
• 601 hires (466 external, 135 internal)
• UK–82, Europe-63, India–305, China-81, USA–70
• 99% direct sourced
• Time to Fill = 25 days
• Team NPS of 86
• CX surveys – 4.6/5.0

Corsearch’s leading Trademark and Brand & Content Protection Solutions are revolutionizing how companies create, monitor, and protect their brands. Over 5,000 businesses worldwide partner with Corsearch to safeguard consumers and their trust in brands — preventing confusion, misrepresentation, and fraud using the hybrid intelligence of advanced AI precision and expert decision of human analysts.

Initially hired to build a Global TA function from scratch across US, EMEA and APAC.

Achievements:

• ATS Implementation & Process Optimisation: Built the business case for a new ATS, implemented it within three weeks, trained managers globally, and designed the careers site. Integrated Workday with Teamtailor and streamlined recruitment processes.

• Talent Acquisition Transformation: Revamped the India TA team, hiring a Senior TA Manager and reducing agency usage from 75% (2022) to 0% (2023). Achieved only 2% agency usage globally (2023–Q1 2024).

• Strategic Hiring & Leadership: Hands-on recruiter and advisor to the Executive team, managing US/European hiring. Hired a TA Business Partner and an Onboarding Manager, creating an end-to-end onboarding process and launching onboarding surveys.

• Process Improvements & Compliance: Implemented in-depth background checks, supporting ISO 27001 and Ecovadis accreditation. Launched candidate and Quality of Hire surveys, improving hiring insights.

• Employer Brand & Employee Experience: Helped raise Glassdoor scores from 3.3 (July 2023) to 4.2 (Q1 2024). Embedded review requests into Workday for new hires at 90 days.

• Training & Inclusive Hiring: Delivered global training on recruitment best practices. Developed an inclusive hiring process, including a gender decoder and equal opportunities statement.

• Stakeholder Engagement & TA Alignment: Partnered with ELT/SLT to address hiring challenges, built credibility, and ensured the TA team aligns with business needs for high-quality service.

Recruitment Workstream Lead for HMCTS’ Digital & Technology Services, a large technology insourcing programme (tech start up environment)

Deliverables:

• Designed and Developed a recruitment strategy to attract, recruit and retain 300+ highly skilled technologists into Civil Servant roles (Squad roles: Delivery Managers, Business Analysts, Developers, QAs and Product Managers)
• Oversight of £500,000 budget excluding resource costs
• Reporting to SMG weekly including CDIO

This role sat within the CFT (Civil, Family and Tribunals) Technology Programme

• I supported Senior Project Managers and Delivery Managers at project level to recruit and maintain technical resource levels to ensure that projects are able to maintain delivery timelines, ensuring that SOWs and contracts represent value for money and challenging resource costs across a range of suppliers as well as all direct sourcing using a variety of sourcing methods

I was asked to help develop a recruitment strategy to staff multiple new shared service centres across the Midlands

The role involved:

• Design a recruitment process & create job adverts & candidate packs from scratch for each of the 20+ types of roles
• Providing advice to the CTSC teams on recruitment best practice
• Working with the teams to develop a forward view of what’s needed, where and when

I was asked to join HMCTS to help introduce a modern recruitment function into the Reform Programme

Reform is a £1billion, six-year Programme, launched to completely change what they do, and make their services better for the citizens who use them

• I owned the permanent recruitment process for all of IT within Bupa UK
• The role involved managing all stakeholders within UK and Global IT up to CIO level, direct sourcing, selection and advertising

BPDTS Limited (GovCo) was a new organisation that will provide Application Development Maintenance and Support (ADMS) services to the Department for Work and Pensions

My role was:

• Working with the new HR and Leadership team to design a new process for recruiting contingent labour resources, augmented workers and permanent staff; which includes everything from initial request, internal HR and Finance approvals through to on-boarding and start

This role was working on the DWP Digital 2020 Programme, the largest Digital Transformation in Europe

Managing:

• Redesign of Processes for Permanent, Contingent and Consultancy workers – built new process maps to shows low level detail from new vacancy needed to 'bum on seat'
• Workforce Planning – built the workforce plan for 10 business functions each having 5-12 service areas

• I managed recruitment (full lifecycle from approval to offer incl Direct sourcing) within BBC Engineering as a function as well as 5 high profile areas of the BBC
• This role was hands on recruitment but I also had full ownership of IT so the role involved extensive stakeholder management

I was tasked with managing all Internal and External Recruitment (engineering and non-engineering) within Civil Nuclear New Build (normal req load was c.120 vacancies to manage at any one time)

As part of the UKHR Team, I was a key member of a highly proactive Resourcing Function that delivers 600 – 1200 hires per annum

• I managed anywhere between 20-40 roles at any one time and delivered 103 permanent hires from Dec 2012 – Dec 2013 (directly sourced without the use of agencies or sourcing support)
• My role was to ensure that Thales UK had the right people, in the right place, at the right time to execute its strategy
• My remit covered Professional, Contingent and Graduate Recruitment