The Stevenson Insurance Group
Back to Case StudiesThe Brief
The Stevenson Insurance Group have been providing tailored commercial and personal insurance services for nearly 50 years. In recent years, the group have undergone growth both organically and through several carefully selected acquisitions, which has seen them grow their branch network across 2 locations covering both North and South Manchester.
Due to this continued growth, the need for additional experienced Brokers and Account Handlers arose in their Bury branch. Despite previously engaging with several specialist insurance recruitment firms, they had failed to deliver and so approached The People Pod to support their hiring efforts.
The Challenge
Due to the specialist nature of their staff, and the longstanding and loyal customer base, the selection of new team members centred not only on their skills & experience, but also their cultural fit for both the company and their clients. The Stevenson Insurance Group are a real people business who live and breathe the insurance needs of their customers and believe in fostering real relationships through face-to-face meetings, dedicated account management, and a personalised approach.
Any new team member not only required the technical expertise to perform the role but had to share the customer-centric ethos that has embodied the company since day one. Additionally, the leadership team were extremely stretched due to being under resourced and the sheer volume of clients, so did not have the time to dedicate themselves to managing a rigorous and exhaustive recruitment process.
Finally, it was clear that availability of experienced candidates in the local market was in short supply due to the branch location.
The Approach
After meeting with all key stakeholders across both branches, we quickly identified the skill profiles of the individuals required for each position, alongside which personality traits would make them a true fit for the company. To do this is meant understanding what makes The Stevenson Insurance Group stand out in a competitive market and profiling their previous successful hires.
Once we understood this, we set out a recruitment strategy through our retained partnership model, whereby The People Pod would manage the entire end-to-end process – this included identification of competitor organisations, talent mapping, targeted headhunting, managed advertising, and face-to-face competency-based interviewing. We tailored our selection process to ensure we engaged with people who shared the company’s values and vision for growth and had the potential and high ceiling to make this a reality.
The Result
- Successfully headhunted and placed two key hires for the North Manchester branch, helping to drive the productivity and profitability of the business
- Mapped the local market to create a pipeline of future talent
- Alleviated the additional workload being placed on the existing workforce, improving employee morale
- Delivered the hires within timescales and budgets
The Impact
The results achieved meant that not only did The Stevenson Insurance Group acquire two critical key hires for their growing branch network, but by outsourcing the entire process to The People Pod, it allowed the Leadership team to focus their attention on the running of the business at a time where resources were already stretched. This ensured that the business could maintain key client relationships and satisfaction during an extremely busy trading period and are now well placed to continue their journey.Peter Stevenson – Managing Director
“Working with The People Pod has been a breath of fresh air and opened my eyes to what a truly professional recruitment service should look like. From our very first meeting, Paul guided us through entire journey with insights and advice on the job profiles, ideal selection process and even the onboarding. Whereas other recruiters simply send you CV’s and expect you to do the rest, The People Pod took control of the whole experience, really understanding our business and what makes us tick. Paul was genuinely objective when introducing candidates which was refreshing, highlighting areas for development and not just their strengths – you could clearly see he had thoroughly interviewed everyone he sent. We were extremely pleased with results, so much so that we would have hired more of the candidates we met if we could!”