The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A second recruitment drive to find a town centre manager for Spalding has ended without a suitable candidate being found.
The recruitment panel will now go back to the drawing board to look again at the job specification and salary in an attempt to ensure a high calibre person is found to fill the role, which has been heralded as an important step in breathing new life into the town centre and ensuring it has a bright future.
The vacancy has now been advertised twice through the Association of Town Centre Managers’ website and specified three years’ town centre manager experience in exchange for a £26,000 salary.
The first round of interviews resulted in the job being offered to a suitable candidate.
They decided not to take up the position as they did not wish to relocate to Spalding.
This week it has been revealed that no suitable candidates were interviewed following a second recruitment round.
Phil Scarlett, president of Spalding and District Area Chamber, who has driven the town centre manager project forward and is on the recruitment panel, said: “We will now talk to the agency we employed to deal with recruitment and get their feedback, but the interview panel is also looking at what we need to do differently.
“We are looking at the job specification and at the possibility of finding more money to make it more attractive.
“We could also look at the possibility of a job share – we have to look at every option to find a way forward.”
Another member of the selection panel, businessman Matt Clark, who is also chairman of the town’s night time economy forum, said the opportunity to recruit a town centre manager is one “we need to grasp with both hands”.
He said: “I am confident we will find a way forward.”
Mr Clark added that the initial criteria for the job had been “quite tight” to ensure that the money was being spent on placing the right person at the helm.
He said: “One of the considerations now may be to relax the criteria slightly and at least give candidates the opportunity to discuss with the interview panel how they would deliver certain parts of the role, and the areas where they don’t have specific experiences, how they would look to find direction on it or similar tasks they have performed in their past roles.
“Ultimately, I have always looked for attitude over aptitude in a role, certainly in management – it is a lot more fruitful and enjoyable supporting people who have the right attitude rather than ones who have the paperwork to show they can do something but in reality don’t want to.”
Members of the panel are keen to progress as the feeling is that businesses are waiting for the appointment as a catalyst to move the town forward.
The money for the town centre manager was allocated from the s106 pot awarded to the town when Springfields Outlet Shopping was built.
Why would anybody apply for a job in Spalding if they were not prepared to live here? Surely relaxing the criteria will only result in previously unsuitable candidates coming forward? Spalding businesses should not be waiting for somebody else to act as a catalyst. There is too much dependence on ‘somebody else’ these days and a serious lack of personal responsibility. I fail to see how appointing a manager will amek local businesses any more successful. Perhaps the decision to attempt to spend the S106 money on a Town Centre Manager was misplaced and should be reconsidered.