Karla McLeod
Summary
Commercially astute, goal orientated HR Leader with strong experience in Talent Management; excelling in people strategy and management, supplier management, employer branding, direct resourcing via social media channels, and headhunting to source the highest talent in fast-paced, challenging, multi-site environments.
Hardworking, self-motivated and passionate; has the ability and proven experience to work successfully in leadership roles.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
Work history
People & Talent Director
Vivup
Remote
08.2021 - Current
- Overall accountability for the People & Culture function providing strategic advice, guidance and leadership across the business on all aspects of Human Resources and Talent, including employee relations, health and safety, HR governance, talent acquisition and payroll, ensuring that all HR policies and procedures are legally compliant.
- Ensure alignment around Vivup´s vision and values as a solid foundation for future strategy and growth.
- Support the Board and SMT to clearly identify and articulate the people elements of the strategy on a continual basis.
- Create plans to align the organisational levers to support the strategy and a robust talent pipeline to ensure delivery of the plan.
- Keep all members of the business engaged around the strategy and changes ahead.
- Develop and deliver strategic leadership development programmes for all leaders, in conjunction with external coaches and mentors.
- Build out skills and thinking matrices, and talent pipeline to ensure the continued high performance and success of the business.
- Oversee the development, implementation and embedding of succession planning practices, talent management and development programmes across the business to enable it to fully utilise the potential of its people and meet future and changing business needs.
- Lead the development and delivery of coaching and mentoring capability within Vivup, supporting the current Coaching Service and championing the ongoing benefits of coaching, mentoring and sponsorship.
- Enable and ensure the development of interventions focussed on improving line manager competence and capability and the development and innovation related to all aspects of Vivup´s competency and behavioural frameworks.
- Providing career progression guidance, and career pathways accessible to all staff.
- Ensure the provision of creative, innovative and agile learning interventions that meet the changing cultural and social needs of the business as it continues to grow.
- Investigated needs of and threats to organisations in various industries.
- Outlined HR objectives and assessed learning outcomes to guide planning activities.
Head of Talent Acquisition
Oakbrook
11.2018 - Current
- Overall responsibility of the Talent Acquisition team and accountable for discovering, attraction and retention of the best talent, build an enviable employer brand and ensure great relationships are built with candidates, employees, stakeholders, and partners
- This includes
- Working with key stakeholders within the business to determine staffing needs and developing sustainable talent acquisition pipelines
- Producing forecasting reports for the longer-term resourcing requirements of the business
- Performing sourcing activities to fill current vacancies using relevant recruitment marketing tools
- Designing, planning, and implementing employer brand initiatives
- Ensuring candidates have an outstanding experience throughout the selection and on-boarding process
- Supporting hiring managers to plan and conduct the most effective selection process
- Responsible for the effective implementation of the pre-employment checking processes
- Creating reports, monitoring, and presenting data to drive continuous improvements
- Building relationships with local Schools, Universities, Apprenticeship providers and current employees to encourage employer brand ambassadors
- Conducting candidate and employee satisfaction surveys to identify areas of improvement
- Administering the employee referral programme
- Maintaining up to date candidate records in compliance with GDPR
- Developing and facilitating in house recruitment training to upskill Hiring Managers
- Nurture our future workforce by building robust relationships with local Schools, Universities and Apprenticeship providers and delivering outstanding work experience, internship and graduate programmes
- Developing and applying strategies to attract a wide range of diverse candidates for every role
- Managing the Points based immigration visa process and and CoS applications
- Maintaining up to date candidate records in the ATS in compliance with GDPR
- Managing recruitment requisitions against agreed budgets
- Owning the PSL of recruitment agencies and negotiate to ensure continuously improving cost to hire
- Working collaboratively with other members of the business to make the onboarding process for candidates a real ‘magic moment'
Resourcing Partner
Oxford Policy Management Recruitment
10.2015 - 11.2018
- Recruited to support OPM's growth trajectory from 200 to 500 employees in a two-year period
- Solely responsible for end to end recruitment for four of the company's largest business areas
- Key responsibilities in this role are:
- Set up of the recruitment function including the recruitment of new team members, implementation of policies, procedures, and processes
- Implementation of a recruitment software system and authority to recruit
- Full cycle recruitment from the beginning of campaign through to offer stage
- Regular meetings with Programme Directors and other key stakeholders
- Mentorship of junior team members
- In January 2017, I was seconded to set up the Project Recruitment function for OPM which involved developing a full project recruitment process including planning, resourcing, risk management (including due diligence), and governance for recruitment to support the project management process
- Specifically, this role has involved:
- Conducting recruitment needs analysis and proactively engaged the relevant business areas
- Making recommendations to the business on key areas to successfully recruit the right people
- Leading on the implementation of ATS and Resource Management Systems
- Leading of the HR element of a company resource review project which involved implementing new departmental policies, procedures, manuals, and guidance notes
- Conducting a due diligence analysis of how project recruitment is done within OPM and in each country office operation
- Introducing and implementation of safeguarding compliance and safer recruitment good practice
- GDPR compliance
- Delivery of training sessions on systems functions and HR policies for staff both in the UK and
- OPM's 14 offices in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia
- Developing a tracker of channels used locally for project recruitment
- Developing a key persons' tracker on a local level of who is responsible within OPM for the project recruitment
- Developing a local monitor of open project recruitment roles In addition to this, I have also been responsible for:
- Planning and forecasting recruitment needs for proposals: DFID, EU, CDC, USAID, and other Government agencies
- Developing recruitment strategy plans and actively partnering with Senior Management to better assist them to their recruitment and staffing needs
- Analysing consultant utilisation rates
- Searching and identifying, interviewing, and selecting potential candidates for various international projects and for permanent staff positions
- Reviewing and monitoring job descriptions, posting jobs in various social media sites as well as in country media to reach a wide range of networks.
International Resourcing Consultant
Cardno Emerging Markets Ltd
03.2013 - 10.2015
- Cardno Emerging Markets are a leading development consultancy which specialises in the professional services associated with the planning, design, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring of development programmes across a range of physical, economic, and social infrastructure sectors
- In this role I am tasked with sourcing consultants for both upcoming proposals and existing projects funded by clients such as European Commission and DFID and USAID
- In addition to supporting the recruitment of Developments Economist, I led the recruitment for Cardno's Social, Environmental and Impact Management team, where I was responsible for recruiting Construction, Transportation, Civil and Projects Engineers
- Main accountabilities in this role were:
- Leading the recruitment and selection activities to secure high-quality teams or individuals for nomination in projects, proposals, and Expressions of Interest (EOIs)
- Managing and lead complex recruitment processes and develop successful recruitment campaigns for the company's key strategic proposals
- Sourcing appropriate candidates through internal and external networks, industry events, internal recruitment databases and online electronic resources
- Conducting interviews and other due diligence procedures with Consultants
- Assisting proposal teams develop appropriate staffing plans according to proposal requirements
- Negotiating candidate salaries, benefits, and allowances within proposal budget constraints
- Reviewing Cardno's use of PeopleMatrix and other resourcing databases
- Implementing procedures to ensure databases contain the highest quality experts
- Introducing best practice procedures for all staff within Cardno Emerging Markets EMEA involved in selecting staff for projects
- Continually monitor and seek to improve the process of selecting experts
- Managing social media activity for EMEA and work alongside counterparts in USA and Australia to develop social media and communications strategies for Emerging Markets Division
- Delivering training on resourcing procedures, databases etc
- From July 2014 I was seconded to work with the Washington office to work on USAID funded proposals
- In addition, I have also been involved in reviewing and streamlining proposal recruitment processes, which has involved mentoring and training team members and supervising other Recruitment Specialists.
Maternity Leave
08.2012 - 02.2013
Interim Resourcing Manager
Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
01.2012 - 07.2012
- Responsible for leading the Resourcing team (3 people), which has included managing both internal and external recruitment activity for the College's five campuses
- Responsible for the full resourcing service provision and providing specialist advice, direct sourcing, and guidance to the College on meet resourcing challenges, including the implementation of retention initiatives
- The College is a high-volume recruitment environment combined with high end technical capability and hard to source roles
- Other specific projects have included:
- Development and implementation of the web recruitment module of ITrent, which involved composition of the project team, development of project process map, creation of user acceptance test documents and training documents
- Also conducted training to staff once system had been implemented
- Coaching and training managers in Safer and Effective recruitment
- Development of new initiatives to increase diversity within the staff population
- Set up of BME and Disability focus groups
HR Manager
Amey Plc
08.2011 - 12.2011
- Amey are a leading public services provider whose purpose is to support both public and private organisations
- In this interim contract duties included:
- Overall responsibility for end to end resourcing of Senior Managers within the business nationally
- Roles included Sales, Marketing, ICT, Human Resources, Finance, Operations and Engineering
- Full cycle recruitment ownership, both operationally and on a strategic level, for volume and specialised resourcing
- Assisting with the developed and implementation of legally binding SLA contracts with major external recruitment suppliers, ensuring cost reductions and both qualitative and quantitative compliance through comparative performance management
- Delivered real-terms cost reductions through proactive supplier management, the development of online recruitment initiatives/branding, introduction, and promotion of an employee referral scheme, and enhanced internal mobility processes
- Drove forward stakeholder participation in recruitment processes, delivered coaching on legislative considerations and competency-based interviewing to line management
- Reduced average time-to-hire by over 50%, and ensured a professional, legally compliant selection process
- Operational intervention in the recruitment process as and when required, including competency- based interviewing, short listing, scheduling, ensuring the issuance of appropriate contracts of employment, and acting as a point of escalation for any process issues
- Developed effective relationships at all levels in the business at HRBP and Director level, ensuring buy-in into the recruitment process and any change projects
- Regular meetings with business unit leaders, regarding all recruitment related issues such as headcount forecasting, hiring cost, appropriate selection processes, legal requirements, and delivering advice and guidance as required
- Responsibility for the promotion of internal mobility and management of the employee referral scheme.
HR & Resourcing ~ Project Consultant
Nottingham City Council
04.2009 - 07.2011
08.2008 - 04.2009
- Career break to be with family
Resourcing Executive
WYG International Ltd
01.2006 - 07.2008
HR & Resourcing Officer
Siemens Power Generation
05.2005 - 12.2005
Senior Consultant
Brook Street Bureau Plc
03.2003 - 05.2005
Business Development Consultant
Pertemps Trent Ltd
05.2001 - 02.2003
Education
High Pavement College
Skills
- Qualified NLP Practioner
- Goal setting interventions
- Outcome monitoring
- DBS compliance
- Case management
- CBT-based interventions
- Experienced in the use of HRIS, ATS systems an Microsoft Office Suite
- Other key skills Skilled in planning, information gathering, cost and risk management, decision making, monitoring and control and leadership
Timeline
People & Talent Director
Vivup
08.2021 - Current
Head of Talent Acquisition
Oakbrook
11.2018 - Current
Resourcing Partner
Oxford Policy Management Recruitment
10.2015 - 11.2018
International Resourcing Consultant
Cardno Emerging Markets Ltd
03.2013 - 10.2015
Maternity Leave
08.2012 - 02.2013
Interim Resourcing Manager
Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
01.2012 - 07.2012
HR Manager
Amey Plc
08.2011 - 12.2011
HR & Resourcing ~ Project Consultant
Nottingham City Council
04.2009 - 07.2011
08.2008 - 04.2009
Resourcing Executive
WYG International Ltd
01.2006 - 07.2008
HR & Resourcing Officer
Siemens Power Generation
05.2005 - 12.2005
Senior Consultant
Brook Street Bureau Plc
03.2003 - 05.2005
Business Development Consultant
Pertemps Trent Ltd
05.2001 - 02.2003
High Pavement College
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