Ben Symonds Email & Phone Number

Albi, Occitanie, France

Overall responsibility for; HR and business management for GOPA France; all employee recruitment support and processes; developing and maintaining a Hybrid Work Policy; employee career development pathways and company branding efforts in key markets.

Toulouse Area, France

•Working with clients to staff both internal employee teams and external proposal/project (EU, FCDO, USAID and ADB) positions globally focussing on high-level long-term positions and contracts. •Contracted to analyse a company’s client proposals and identified key areas of improvement focussing on consistency of messaging, responding fully to client brief and quality of offer.•Designed and led a project to map the S.E. Asia energy market for a US based client interested in USAID funded projects, identifying key stakeholders, movers and players and highlighting key contacts to target.•Providing management support to internal HR functions for a variety of consultancies focussing on stakeholder engagement internal brand identification, employee relations, and process development.•Created a social media strategy to target networks and markets - focussing on international development - using tools like Google Analytics, Hootsuite, and Trello.•Speaker at industry events and webinars (e.g. Recruiting International Experts for Donor FundedProjects - DevelopmentAid, Feb 2022) on best practice in recruitment, international development talent attraction and approach techniques.

London, Brussels, Beijing, Delhi And Bangalore

•Led recruitment support across Europe and Asia, with corporate offices in the UK, Belgium, India and China.•Responsible for the overall performance of the team across the region, overseeing a team of 7.•Led the development and implementation of an effective recruitment process, adaptable to specific markets and responsive to business needs.•Responsible for talent attraction strategies and brand awareness efforts in diverse markets.•Main recruitment resource for company's international development team, planning and identifying high-level Team Leader type hires.•Managed a recruitment specific budget. •Led the roll-out of a new recruitment management system from a Europe and Asia standpoint - leading on testing, process design and workflow management.•Gestion des processus de recrutement à travers l’Europe et l’Asie •Travailler avec l'équipe de direction et les conseiller sur la stratégie et la planification du recrutement •Gestion d'une equipe de 7 recruteurs en Belgique et en Asie •Diriger la mise en œuvre des fonctions du recrutement pour le nouveau système HRIS – Workday en Europe et en Asie. •Conseiller sur les projets RH dont l’échelle salariale d’ICF et la définition d’évolution de carrière •Conseiller sur le recrutement de projets pour les propositions financées par l'UE et DFID au Népal, en Inde, en Corée, en RDC, en Éthiopie et en Irak

London, Greater London, United Kingdom

• Ultimately responsible for building the recruiting capacity of the Afghanistan, Middle East and North Africa (AfMENA) team.•Designed, implemented and enforced a process aiming for fewer recruiting and contracting errors and reduced time to mobilisation.•Designed and led a training needs analysis (TNA) to identify areas of the recruitment process (sourcing, contracting, advertising etc.) where the team might be weak.•Created individual recruitment training plans for Project Managers in the team and designed and led training.•Created guidance for all areas of recruitment covered by the TNA (how-to guides, visual and easy to digest).•Mediated relations between the AfMENA team and the HR team on issues relating to HR – e.g. disputes over systems and processes.•Enhanced the company network in the region - creating relationships with local networks in the countries we work in and identifying areas for growth.•Gestion du recrutement au Moyen-Orient pour des projets de développement international financé par l’UE, DFID et l’USAID •Conception et mise en place d’un processus de recrutement qui a réduit le nombre d’erreurs et le temps d’embauche •Formation des chefs de projet aux meilleures pratiques en matière de recrutement •Mise en place d’un nouveau système de contrats et d’une base de données candidats régionaux au Moyen-Orient

London, United Kingdom

•Managed recruitment for proposals and projects– position identification, interviewing, negotiation, contracting and start-up.•Stakeholder management experience working with hiring managers, European Delegations, evaluation committees and internal senior management. •100% direct source rate for high-quality candidates for donor funded proposals on recruitment websites that are both business and development focused (LinkedIn, Devex, Assortis etc.) using targeted Boolean search techniques.•Involved in corporate projects working on; how DAI manages its candidate pipeline; how our contracting process could be improved which resulted in a new contracting process for the entire company.•Organisation et mise en œuvre des campagnes de recrutement pour les projets de développement international de l’entreprise (Afrique subsaharienne et Asie) •Proche collaboration avec les clients du secteur public (Gouvernement britannique et la commission Européenne). •Gestion de la publication d’offres d’emploi, de la communication avec les candidats et la négociation des salaires

London, United Kingdom

•Created proposals for EC funded framework contract requests covering; BENEF LOT 1 (Rural Development), BENEF LOT 6 (Environment), BENEF LOT 7 (Governance and Home Affairs), BENEF LOT 10 (PSD), and COM LOT 1 (All sector technical assistance).•Directly sourced and selected experts and tailored their CVs, put together budgets and worked with experts to produce technical proposals and reports.•Acted as face of company to European Delegations across the world, fielding requests for information and proposals.

London

•Responsible for all job advert posting needed by the EC, DFID and project management teams on a variety of websites/social media relating to International Development (LinkedIn, Devex, ReliefWeb etc.).•Screened all candidates applying for specific EC funded proposals and led recruitment drives for the EC team such as those for technical writers and experts.•Responsible for the first interview over the phone, acting as company point of contact before passing successful candidates on to the proposal’s lead recruiters.•First point of contact in London office for; recruitment enquiries from candidates; communication from contracted websites; and recruitment enquiries from internal staff, providing total management of the administration process.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Spanish, 2:1

Activities and Societies: Varsity football.

Filología Hispánica

Spanish, Communication And History A-Levels