Sarah Cole Email & Phone Number

British Embassy, Washington D.C

Responsible for HR support to the British Defence Mission to the USA, delivering to 1200 personnel across 38 states and the leadership and management of 28 HR generalists and managers:• Workforce Planning & Organizational Development. Analyse and provide guidance on the current organisational state and future HR requirements. Craft and revise role profiles as needed to facilitate business planning. • International Liaison: Communicate UK customer needs with US counterparts to grow diplomatic relations within the defence industry contributing towards the bi-lateral defence relationship.• Recruitment & Retention: Partner with UK Foreign Office Department to ensure a conscious, deliberate approach to attracting and retaining top talent from both inside and outside the organization. • Succession Planning: Identify succession planning both within and external to the British Defence Staff, engagement with talent management and resourcing from across the 4 lead HQs in the UK.• Compensation & Benefits: Provide ongoing compensation analysis and recommend adjustments as needed to ensure top talent is retained. Collaborate with compensation and benefits partners across the USA to ensure parity of treatment. Advocate for staff within the Ministerial level compensation and benefit development cycle.• Employee Relations: Minimize risk to organisation by actively responding to and addressing staff concerns in a timely manner. Conduct complete investigations and make recommendations based on findings/facts. Escalate issues/concerns to management board members and unit leadership as appropriate. Collaborate with legal and outside counsel as needed to address complex or highly sensitive issues.• Advisor: Counsel staff and management on personnel-related matters, including policy interpretation, job reclassification, benefit management, and conflict resolution.• Personnel Management: Provide strong leadership to HR staffs across 7 geographic locations.

Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre

Responsible for HR delivery for military and civilian medical professionals including the move of location resulting in development of voluntary and involuntary staff redundancies as well as talent retention:• 4 month period as Director of HR rated 1 of 20 managers resulting in coveted commendation of performance from 1* HQ.• HR Delivery: Leadership and management of 12 direct report personnel overseeing coordination of recruitment, compliance, benefits, compensation, and employee relations of 500 military and civilian personnel. • Project Management: lead for development of transitional HR policy for move of location including outflow benefits package, education and reskilling and talent retention package for specialist medical staff.• Coaching: Provided consultation to senior leaders and advised on personnel matters including grievance process to improve effectiveness of leadership teams.• Chief of Staff: Acted as Chief of Staff to CEO including arranging staff meetings, engagement and communications. Co-ordinated visit of the President of Colombia and subsequent audience at the State Banquet.

Middle East

Responsible for delivery of HR, Finance, Postal and Facility Management to support 300 personnel in 2 countries for the UK's only overseas operational HQ:• International Liaison: UK key stakeholder of real life support, liaising with United States DoD representatives in securing access to $4.3bn of assets including food, transport, accommodation, recreation, welfare and fitness facilities. • HR Policy: Development of new HR strategy including implementation of employee and manager handbook outlines standards and procedures for personnel management.• Facilities Management: Managed a $3m budget, implemented maintenance program, ensured health and safety compliance and improved planning cycle to fit 6 month staff turnover.• Governance: Identified the need for change in delivery of HR and support functions, resulting in an improvement of 83% of KPIs by external audit authority.• Personel Management: Leadership and management of 12 direct reports.

Honington, Bury St Edmunds

Responsible for conducting talent management and resourcing of tasking for RAF physical security capability of 2490 personnel across a wide range of specialty security skills. Managing resourcing at all levels from Senior Executive to trainee:• Global Operations: Lead for resource planning and implementation globally, including tasks in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Conflict zones worldwide.• Customer Focus: Liaison with government departments seeking specialist training staff for development and international relations facing projects matching customer need to resource. • Project Management: Project lead for capture and enrichment of our competency data across the business to enable role based resourcing using Oracle. • Strategic Plans: Advising CEO on talent shortfalls and developing strategic plan for upskilling and training from on-boarding to specialist skill qualification ranging from a 1 to 4 year lead in. • Policy: Developing the on-boarding process and policy for roles across the world including intra-government liaison including application of legal regulations between different nations. • Personel Management: Managed 3 direct reports.

Various

- Head of Facility Management (1 yr) - Germany - Responsible for the NATO Air HQ, managing a team of 20 engineering and facility specialists. Delivering day-to-day implementation of policies, procedures and projects ensuring smooth running of infrastructure to meet customer and tenant needs. Specialising in secure physical and IT infrastructure of high tempo HQ directing operations across the globe. Co-ordinating activities, financials, vendors and manpower. Completed project delivering the 5 year maintenance and expansion plan, securing budgetary approval.- Senior HR Manager (9 mths) - Afghanistan - Delivery of HR on a base of 32,000 personnel including 24 different nations, civilian, military and contractors. Managed an international team of 15 HR and support personnel. Budget manager for $30m projects budget resulting in the building of recreational facilities including; sports pitches, restaurants and the roll out of Wi-Fi and IT connectivity. Led the Human Resource input into a country wide assessment and plan for NATO led post ISAF engagement to the Afghanistan government. - HR and Support Manager (4 mths)- Middle East - Managed a team of 7 personnel in HR, Infrastructure, Finance and Facilities Management. Responsible for $12m infrastructure project delivery. Budget manager for $6m operating budget of a deployed airfield in remote location. Managed real life support and HR for 400 personnel in an austere environment.

Kent

Leadership and management of 5 recruiters and 2 support staff across the Kent region, qualified as a Certified Recruiting Practitioner, responsible for:• Recruiting Cycle Management: Oversaw the recruitment of all Royal Air Force hires including initial assessment, interviewing and selection for 40 officer candidates and final interviewing and selection of over 100 enlisted personnel. • Quality Assurance: Conducting quality assurance of all case files (circa 600) and led the South of England assurance program, across 6 locations including London.• Outreach: School, University and Gatekeeper outreach including the strategic plan and co-ordination visiting over 200 sites.• Advertising: Conducted budgeting and forecast of advertising campaigns across the area, including sponsorship of large sporting venues, print and electronic media and public engagement.

Defence College Of Aeronautical Engineering

Responsible for personnel policy, security, special projects and strategic communications: • Personnel Management: Leadership and management of 5 HR generalists and 25 security direct reports.• Planning skills: Lead the detachment of 200 personnel from Birmingham to London to conduct ceremonial duties including logistics, media engagement and pan-government liaison.• Communication skills: Delivery of messaging written and verbal, to an audience of 1500 employees.• Security: Management and implementation of physical security plan including planning training and reporting on all personnel.

Various

Leadership and HR training resulting in Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management.

Master Of Science - Ms, Executive Leadership, Merit

Focus on senior leadership in theory and practice, board management and good governance. Dual accreditation with the Institute of Directors.

Certificate, International Business Management

Modules in; International Trade Policy, Finance, Customer Strategy and Business Development, International Marketing and Global.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Business And Enterprise, Distinction

Focus on Business Process and Growth.

Diploma, Management And Leadership

CMI Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership covering: • Leadership practice • Leadership theory • Managing team and individual.

Certificate In Recruiting Practice (Certrp)

Level 3 certification as recruiting professional covering employment regulation and law.

Gcses & A-Levels