‘I would highly recommend Sheffield as an executive recruitment agency. I have engaged with Sheffield and in particular Nicholas Buck as both a candidate and client. I have always been impressed with the high degree of professionalism, diligence and attention to detail.
The Sheffield team have always been a pleasure to work with.’

Sheffield’s support was invaluable in helping us replace our CEO who retired after 15 years. We could not have managed the process without them - their advertising and recruitment strategy exceeded expectations.
Katy’s expertise and knowledge of the short-listed candidates greatly assisted our recruitment panel during the interview process. If you are looking for executive level appointments I highly recommend Sheffield and Katy in particular.

2020 is a year that will be remembered by most people as the year of the Covid 19 Pandemic. Ian Taylor and the Sheffield Search team stood out in the selection process as having the experience, knowledge of the market, capability and fit that we were looking for. They set out a clear plan and critical path that gave us confidence that we would find the best candidate within the time available, during a time of much uncertainty.

Throughout the entire recruitment process, Sheffield Search were there with us as real partners. Their long experience in the education market, deep knowledge of the recruitment process and in many cases of the candidates enabled Sheffield Search to provide insightful and highly credible guidance and advice. I am very comfortable in recommending Sheffield Search as an Executive Search partner for any educational body recruiting for leadership positions.

Sheffield has real strength in the culture transformation and development area, which is why we decided to partner with them on the appointment of this newly established position. The initial briefing was extremely thorough and really set the scene for what proved to be a very smooth process. The candidate briefing document was also excellent and very comprehensive.

Sheffield provided a superb service – the whole process was flawless – it was easy, on time and excellently executed.

The added value to the process was high-level, trustworthy and had integrity - Sheffield gave us the tools to make our decision with confidence. We didn’t experience any gaps in the process, and the only uncertainty we faced was having to conduct part of the process through lockdown. I always felt supported by Sheffield and always knew Mike was at the end of the phone to ask any questions if I needed to.

For this appointment we went to three different organisations to choose who to partner with, and selected Sheffield as they had the best proposal in terms of understanding our needs and relatability to the role. Listening is also really important, and Mike does this well, able to reflect back on what he has heard.

I am very aware of how good their Search facility is, and at this level, Search is a very important part of the process.
There was also a value-add through Mike’s perceptibility – he is very astute when it comes to reading candidates. There is great value in Mike’s judgement and input, especially at short-list stage, and we had a lot of trust that it would work out well.

I have a long relationship with Sheffield and with Louise and Mike, which means Sheffield knows me, and our business, well.
The biggest benefit for me is their shortlisting from a range of candidates as this takes a lot of the time-consuming part of the process off my shoulders.

Trust them, they know the market, and they know what they’re doing

Sheffield was invited to present to the Board, as were other providers, as part of the Board’s decision-making process. Andrea gave a very positive presentation and had been involved in several similar appointments, which we also had done some homework on as to how they had gone. Based on this, we decided to partner with Sheffield for the appointment of the new Principal/Headmaster.
I would strongly support another school deciding to use Sheffield for a similar appointment, especially if they did not have someone clearly in mind for the role.

Our search was more than just replacing a Council CE, we wanted a change leader that could assist the Mayor and Council in operational pivoting Palmerston North City into a new direction. This required an Executive search for our Council CE through the Local Government, public and private sectors.
We found Sheffield to be outstanding in the calibre of candidates they brought to the table. Consequently we appointed outside the Local Govt sector and went for a private sector appointment. That has proven to be very successful.

Ian and the team clearly had extensive networks in the education sector which meant we were presented with candidates of exceptional quality and appropriate characteristics. They understood our requirements and led us through a recruitment exercise which was comprehensive, holistic and timely.

Sheffield Search’s service was highly professional, marked by a strong collaborative/partnership approach. Communication throughout the process was regular and full, and gave the board comfort of the progress being made.
All these elements ensured not only a successful outcome but a series of relationships very well managed.

It is all about the people and Mike (Stenhouse) has built up a high level of trust in his relationship with the MTF Board. He provides a very thorough, credible and professional process which resulted in, in this case, three high calibre and appointable candidates to choose from.