Only ever leaders

Aspen People is a specialist sector executive search organisation, working in partnership with clients to attract and secure exceptional leadership talent.

Our Approach

We source high quality candidates for Board Level, Leadership and Management roles across six key specialist sectors. In each one, we can evidence a genuine depth of knowledge and a vast range of experience.

 

 

MORE ABOUT US

We always work in an honest and fully transparent partnership. We take time to understand our clients’ challenges and the unique culture within their organisation, but we are nimble enough to work at pace and deliver within demanding timeframes.

Alongside our rigorous selection processes and carefully maintained network of candidates, these factors give us a competitive edge and enable us to find the right candidates, for the right roles at the right time.

Aspen People undertake leadership appointments and we position ourselves to fulfil a strategic role as trusted advisors and an extension of our clients’ management team.

Charity & Not For Profit

We work in partnership with many Charities and Not-For-Profit organisations across Scotland helping them to find the best leadership talent available and to remain agile, effective and commercially robust. For each we provide Leadership, Executive Search and Board services and are resolutely focused on ensuring that we expertly match roles and responsibilities with people and purpose.

Education

We work across the entire education, qualification, and skills sectors, identifying inspirational talent for the most sought after professional and academic leadership roles in Universities, Colleges and Schools as well as the sectors that support the advancement of learning, skills, and economic development. We bring a measured, knowledgeable and empathetic approach to finding our clients remarkable talent.

Local Government

Aspen People are committed to identifying and recruiting inspirational leaders who enhance the effectiveness of critical services delivered to the public and within this remit, Local Authorities are no different. We have delivered senior executives including CEOs for big cities as well as to remote and fragile communities. We have also provided bespoke services to the leaders of all service functions where our independence, market intelligence and professional experience adds tangible value to the partnership.

Health & Care

Our National Healthcare system provides a vital public service and Aspen People have always supported the search for critical talent within the corporate management structure of both acute sector and other critical support agencies. We deliver many clinical specialist and leadership appointments across the NHS and other organisations who support the delivery of health and care.

Housing Associations

As Scotland’s ‘go-to’ executive search consultancy in Housing, we understand the people needed to lead the sector, the services that Registered Social Landlords provide and the regulatory and compliance issues that often present challenges. Aspen’s partnership approach offers guidance that is bespoke to each individual client and our track record of successful delivery is second to none.

Government Agencies

Aspen People are trusted by many Non Departmental Public Bodies of Government who deliver public services, strategic policies, commercial, executive and regulatory functions on behalf of ministers. Although the corporate skills are entirely transferrable at leadership levels across many sectors, Aspen appreciates the uniquely differing complexity nuances that exist, as well as the depth of organisational understanding required in each leadership team.

Executive Search

We offer a completely bespoke solution to our clients search requirements and design individual attraction strategies to enable a shortlist of high quality, pre-screened candidates. Creativity runs deep within our DNA, meaning that we always look well beyond the obvious talent for executive roles, thus ensuring our clients are able to make the optimum choice.

The quality of personalised service we provide differentiates us from our competitors and we enjoy high levels of repeat business from clients who welcome our partnership focus and our ability to build robust, long lasting relationships.

Board Appointments

Aspen People work with many organisations to support the appointment of motivational and dynamic board members across a number of specialist sectors. These sectors form a vital part of the fabric of our society and we pride ourselves on finding the leadership talent that helps drive positive transformational change.

Appointments at Board level always require highly targeted search methodologies to identify appropriately qualified and experienced senior leaders. Our track record in finding these inspirational individuals speaks for itself and is testament to our commitment towards our best-in-class search and selection techniques.

Functional Expertise

Aspen people’s track record is extensive across a wide range of corporate management functions including Finance, Human Resources, Marketing and Project & Programme Management. If you have a specific senior role that you are looking to fill, please contact us and we will discuss your particular requirement.

Interim Positions

Aspen People work with a select number of seasoned professionals who specialise in key leadership functions and are available to operate on a contracted basis. This is particularly helpful when organisations are managing change or simply require additional support.

We are able to provide leadership resources who can offer support for short term, long term, fixed term or rolling style contracts. Business critical interim roles can typically cover; CEO, Finance, Human Resources, Marketing & Communications, Project Management as well as Transformation & Turnaround.

Consultancy Services

  • Structural Review

    With years of experience across our specialist sectors, Aspen is extremely well placed to understand what works best within organisational structures and what does not. Our consultancy team can assist clients to decide the best structure for their organisation with a view to attracting the best leadership talent where necessary.

  • Executive Assessment

    As a part of a robust recruitment process, our consultancy team is fully trained and licenced to deliver a suite of assessments that empower talent strategies. Our psychometric and algorithmic assessments are valid, job-related tools that clearly map to specific business needs and outcomes. Used as part of the recruitment process, these evaluations provide further insight to finding the most suitable candidates for selection.

  • Executive Coaching & On-Boarding

    The bigger risk involved in any new appointment comes within the first six months when appointed candidates can sometimes struggle to adjust to the new cultural environment – whether that be working with a new board or within an unfamiliar business strategy. Specialist on-boarding support during this time can smooth out this transition and Aspen work in collaboration with Rubicon Partnership who are fully trained practitioners in this area.

  • Talent Pool

    Identifying future talent is fundamentally important to any organisation and Aspen works closely with our clients to assist with their internal succession planning processes. These identify where internal talent presently exists and where it might be necessary to search for a talent externally.

  • Salary Survey

    With long-standing specialist knowledge of each of our industry sectors, we have the undoubted benefit of working with several organisations within the same sector and across related sectors. This means that we are well placed to provide clients with up to date , highly accurate salary benchmarking to ensure that benefits packages are competitive and capable of attracting the very best individuals.

Candidates

Through direct links to the first class networks that our Directors and Consultants have built up over many years, candidates are impressed by our access to unique leadership positions. In many cases, some that are not even advertised.

Clients

Our reputation for going the extra mile with clients has become synonymous with our brand and we’re immensely proud of the powerful track record we've managed to build across our six specialist sectors.

About

With an expert understanding of their individual specialist sectors, our time-served team members bring a highly personal, consultative and can-do approach to executive search.

Each of us understands the importance of forging relationships built on trust, transparency and teamwork and we are always looking for innovative ways to source and secure the very best leadership talent.

More about us

The Chamber sought Debbie’s support for the recruitment of an interim Regional Executive Director role as we required some extra help to find the right individual after some initial open advertising. Her insights were invaluable both in terms of how we were expressing what we wanted job description wise but also suggestions of how the market was currently behaving and candidate expectations. She sourced several excellent potential candidates for us to interview and we have been absolutely delighted with the candidate we appointed. She cuts right to the chase and sees and understands the needs of both the recruiting company and the candidates as equal in importance which I believe is essential to get the right fit. I would highly recommend working with Debbie and have since passed on a number of candidates to her for advice and as potential future clients.

Alison McRae – Network & Partnerships Entrepreneur, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce

I engaged with Lauryn for a prospective role and she displayed the excellence that I have always experienced when I’ve engaged with Aspen People. She had clearly done a considerable amount of work to fully understand the role and the organisation recruiting. I was struck by how many of the questions I thought she would have to follow up on she was able to instantly answer. It showcased just how much work she had done to understand the work and needs of her client. Her communication was prompt, concise and clear. I would wholeheartedly recommend Lauryn as someone to consider for engaging with for recruitment purposes and would certainly do so again myself.

Kenneth Fleming – Candidate

I was immediately taken with the professionalism projected by the Aspen website and then in my initial conversation with Debbie, followed by an excellent proposal package. The scale and quality of the candidate response was really impressive – far beyond anything we could have conjured through our own efforts. Having all the legwork taken off us throughout the process was an enormous relief too, in particular not having to make the difficult calls to disappointed candidates, which is always so hard. The information provided at sift was concise and useful, and having someone to keep us on track during interviews was very useful. Overall it was a fantastic experience which I would thoroughly recommend. You managed to remove most of the stress from what could otherwise have been a really stressful experience. Thank you!

Kate Darrah – Managing Director, The Ridge

Debbie recently supported me in finding a new senior leadership role within the Third Sector. Throughout the process, Debbie was really supportive and attentive to my needs, always making sure I had the information I needed and was across all communications, reaching out continuously without leaving anything to drift. Debbie has the right balance of really making you feel she is batting for you while maintaining a professional approach to the recruitment process. I very much enjoyed the process, not something I have often felt in a recruitment and that was largely down to the way Debbie managed it. I would have absolute confidence in recommending Debbie to any organisation or individual.

Jeremy Miles – Candidate

Working with Gillian to find my new position was great. She was really supportive, helpful and easy to engage with. I felt like I knew exactly what was going on at every stage of the process and that I could ask questions and would get a candid and genuine answer. That was really important to me. I’m so grateful for all of Gillian’s support and would more than happily signpost anyone in my network to work with her or one of her Aspen colleagues.

Anna Vogt – Candidate

News & Insights

Tuesday 12/03/24
Navigating the 2024 Workspace: The Balance Between Home & Office READ MORE
Wednesday 21/02/24
Trustee Talks - Coming Soon! READ MORE
Wednesday 31/01/24
New Opportunities In 2024 READ MORE
Thursday 25/01/24
The Diverse Career of Robert Burns READ MORE