Optivo Homes Limited – Interim Fire Safety Manager

Optivo is a new housing association formed in May 2017. As one of the largest housing providers in the UK, Optivo has 44,000 homes that provide affordable homes to 90,000 people in London, the South East and the Midlands. Optivo works with residents, local authorities and partners to meet housing need and to create safe, sustainable communities for its residents.

The Challenge

Pennington Choices are an appointed provider of Fire Risk Assessments to Optivo. In the process of managing the relationship, our Head of Survey Services became aware that Optivo needed an Interim Fire Safety Manager to cover a colleague’s long-term absence. This led to the client briefing our People Resourcing Division and to our appointment to source the individual required, from November 2017 for an initial period of two to three months.

What We Did

Following an initial briefing and refinement of the job specification, our recruitment experts contacted known people and searched for wider alternatives in the interim candidate market. We approached those people of interest, engaged them and checked their availability and commitment to the role. We ensured that their CVs were current, secured past employment references and conducted eligibility checks to check that their credentials were fitting to the brief and the client’s requirement.

We then submitted a shortlist of CVs of suitably qualified, experienced and committed candidates, leading to one highly skilled individual meeting the client prior to receiving an offer to start work. We managed the offer and acceptance, including issuing contracts to both parties and appropriate joining instructions to the Interim Fire Safety Manager.

The Interim Fire Safety Manager’s performance has exceeded the client’s expectations, resulting in a contract extension until at least the end of March 2018.