Holly Cunnington, head of recruitment

Citation

Cunnington, H. (2013), "Holly Cunnington, head of recruitment", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212daa.005

Holly Cunnington, head of recruitment

Article Type: Practitioner profile From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 4

HR executives share their experience in human resources.

Holly Cunnington has been in HR all her working life, after beginning her career in HR straight after finishing her A levels. She explains: “I went to college to study a HND in Business and Marketing and obtained a part time job with SSP who were then part of Compass Group, the leading food service and support services organization offering contract catering and facilities management.”

“It was an administrative role within the Personnel team but I instantly knew that HR was the area that I wanted to work in, so I changed my modules at college to obtain a HND in Business and HR.”

Onwards and upwards

It is her last three roles that Cunnington says have been the most significant to date: “I worked for Bradford & Bingley in 2005 where I was the HR business partner. My role was to support the sales teams across London and SE and to lead a project to implement career pathways. My success in this role was measured through the impact on performance of those branches, which led to me receiving an award at the yearly ‘Bowlers Awards’. Each year they would give one award to a support member for their contribution to sales and I won this in 2008.”

“I started working at Musgrave Retail in 2008 where I was given great opportunities to develop my skills and talents, working across HR and Training, which subsequently saw me appointed to head of Organizational Development.”

Meeting challenges head on

“I have always been very driven to demonstrate the value of any projects and initiatives. Working with the sales teams from Londis and Budgens once again enabled me to do this. I designed and delivered development centers, which led to a project called Retail Excellence. This project focused on coaching and developing the sales teams in areas of impact and influence to drive sales improvement and retailer compliance. I did this using a MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) and Franklin-Covey Seven Habits. This project enabled me to build relationships with senior people that allowed me to become a Coach, supporting the development of leadership behaviors to drive improvements in engagement of people.”

“Another big challenge and success was with the Supply Chain division within Musgrave. Engagement scores were low and productivity levels dropping. We implemented a focused development program, called Changing Gear for managers and leaders. The challenges here were to reach this audience and engage them with the program as well as roll out appraisals to the whole division. From that, we were able to identify and develop career pathways, giving people the opportunities and tools to progress.”

Current focus on building talent

In her current role, Cunnington is focusing on getting the best people into the organization. She says “I now have a very new challenge with the Stonegate Pub Company, who own and operate over 500 pubs and bars including Slug and Lettuce, Yates’s, Flares and Reflex along with a number of unbranded sites. This felt like a natural next step in my career, with the opportunity to do something different and with a company that mirrors my own personal values. We are a very people focused company who really invest in our people through award winning development and rewards. This has recently been recognized with the company winning Best Pub Employer for 50 sites and more at the Publican Awards – a key trade publication for the licensed trade.”

“In my short time at the pub company, I have recruited a new team along with building and implementing a recruitment strategy for the company. The strategy focuses on building Stonegate’s employer brand as well as ensuring all our processes allow us to recruit the very best people.”

“Reporting directly into the HR director at Stonegate Pub Company, Tim Painter, my role as head of Recruitment is to ensure that we recruit the best in the industry and drive the performance of the company through continually raising the performance bar through the caliber of candidates placed. The team and I are also looking to raise awareness of Stonegate as a great place to work and to build a talent bank to deliver our overall succession plan.”

It’s all about people

“I am so passionate about engagement of people. I have seen over and over again that so many employees possess more knowledge, skills, creativity that their current roles ever require or allow them to use. I know it’s a cliché but people really are any company’s greatest asset. Your people will become your point of difference. This is what I love about Stonegate; it’s a very empowering organization that really taps into the creativity of its people.”

“This became apparent to me when trying to deliver a project for Musgrave to improve customer service in our Budgens stores. I quickly realized that you don’t train service; you start by recruiting the right people. After that you have to create an environment where they want to come to work, bringing their whole selves in order to be the best they can be on every shift. If you get that right, you will have amazing service as a consequence, but it’s not easy.”

Staying ahead in the market

Cunnington believes success in all about having a flexible organization. She says: “The economic environment is still really tough for businesses and it’s frightening to see so many companies that I’ve grown up with and had a connection over the years, going under. You need to have that ability to react to changing customer needs and market trends, and that means having a highly flexible workforce. From an HR point of view, it could be the way you structure contracts but also empowering people to be able to make decisions quickly and focus on delivering what really makes difference.”

“Ensuring your people are constantly developing their skills and creating an environment that will harness the creativity of your people, will ensure that your business will continue to innovative and keep you ahead of your competitors.”

Holly CunningtonBased at Stonegate Pub Company

About the author

Holly Cunnington has been head of recruitment for Stonegate Pub Company since July 2012. She has worked within the field of HR her whole career completing her CIPD in 2002 and rising through the ranks in generalist HR roles across many different industries. She then began specializing in Learning and Development and was appointed head of Organizational Development with Musgrave before moving to Stonegate to specialize in Recruitment. Holly Cunnington can be contacted at: Holly.Cunnington@stonegatepubs.com