9 October 2024
We are thrilled to have Sian Williams join Anderson Quigley as a Partner, who will be leading and developing our interim management offering for the health and social care sector. She is a skilled interim recruiter with over 17 years’ experience, and has a wealth of expertise working across the public sector, with a strong track record on appointing people to executive and senior management positions within the NHS.
As part of Sian’s onboarding process, we caught up with her to ask a few questions about her background and future plans.
What is your background?
I started my recruitment life doing finance recruitment, it gave me a great foundation into recruitment. I was placing finance experts into permanent roles, before moving to interim management, which I have been doing for the past 14 years.
You could say that’s where I learnt my craft and I’m very grateful for everything that I learned and everything that I did in these years. It was a real experience; I love the pace of interim management, it enabled me to broaden my horizons because I specialized in a sector rather than a discipline. I was able to build relationships and work with people to solve problems. I genuinely believe I found my niche, and my vocation in life.
I absolutely love working with the NHS; what they do daily is just incredible. For me, I love being able to support people to achieve their objectives, and ultimately improve patient care and patient experience. Everyone has a link to the NHS in some way, shape or form, it is our national treasure, but it is under exceptional pressure for a variety of reasons. I’m not saying I change the world or anything like that, but I can help improve a small part of it, which ultimately has an impact. It’s very rewarding, and I’ve made some amazing relationships over the last 17 years, and some of those people are now friends! How ever I can do my bit, I like to.
What will your focus be at AQ?
My core focus is setting up and leading an interim portfolio across health and social care. My background is primarily NHS, but we will be exploring independent healthcare as well when the time is right. Helene and Heather have done a fantastic job on the executive search side of things, so now, the three of us will be able to work together to serve our customers with their full recruitment needs, whether that is interim, consultancy, executive search or board recruitment. We are the full package. We’ve created quite a niche service now, and we’re going to specialize in the senior end of the market.
How do you feel interim recruitment can support the Health sector?
The NHS is under a lot of pressure, whether that is from financial, workforce or performance pressures. There are lots and lots of elements of the NHS that are really struggling, and it is having a devastating effect on patients, ultimately, because people are having to wait longer to get the care that they need. As a result, the population, in some cases, is suffering. I believe for the NHS to transform, reform, and become sustainable for the future, there will be a need for a flexible workforce and flexible resources to come in at certain points through that transformational journey to flex the skills they have available. They might not necessarily need those skills for the long term, but for the short term, to enable the organisation to move forward by getting the foundations in place, embedding a new process or way of working, upskilling the teams around them, a flexible workforce will enable them to move forward at pace. That’s the value that I can bring. I can provide that short term, flexible workforce solution to enable them to get where they need to be quicker.
They could recruit substantively, but that takes longer when they need an impact right now. That perfect person might only be needed for that short period of time because then it transitions into business as usual, and they might then need a different skill set. So, it’s being able to think carefully and support the system to achieve its key objectives as and when it needs to achieve them, and sometimes, we need a short term resource to enable us to get there.
What inspired you to join AQ?
When I first started talking to AQ, I wasn’t looking to leave my role and was very open about that. But looking back through the process and ultimately what inspired my decision; for me, it was the opportunity to do something slightly different, to set it up and lead it and be the front runner in that. It was exciting and something I couldn’t refuse. I also would get to work with some of the best consultants that I know of in the industry and wanted to seize the opportunity to become one of those top consultants.
I want to work with the best and do the best job I can to support other people to be the best they can be. I work exceptionally hard and believe I can and do make a difference. I am passionate about the NHS; it is a national treasure and the people who work in it are truly inspiring individuals.
And here we are. It has been very exciting, I am thrilled to be here, and everyone has been so welcoming. AQ is very grown up, very professional and our values align, which is important for me. From day one, I’ve been trusted, and that means a lot and says a lot because it links back to the professionalism and maturity of the organisation; you know what you are expected to do and have the flexibility to do it in the way that suits you.
AQ are positioned as an organisation to be a top supplier to the NHS – we’re on the relevant frameworks, we have the relationships and connections, and we know how to provide a first class service. If you’re interested to hear how Sian can support you as either a client or candidates, please do get in touch at sian.williams@andersonquigley.com.
