07 Jul 2022
Mind

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Mind is a mental health charity that exists to ensure no one must face a mental health problem alone. They provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. Mind campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.
Mind’s 2021-24 strategy sets the direction for their work for the long-term, and specific ambitions for the next three years. Minds strategic development priority areas are:
- Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation
- Supporting young people – with a focus on trauma
- Fighting for the mental health of people in poverty
Mind is a deep-rooted organisation with 95 local Minds in England and 20 local Minds in Wales and a vast network of 3,430 Mind members. The organisation also benefits from the tremendous support of 69,850 campaigners and 2,670 shop volunteers, along with a passionate and committed team of close to 900 staff members.
Mental health does not discriminate, and Mind recognised they had additional work to do in reaching wider, more diverse communities who were not engaging with them as a charity. Furthermore, they sought to increase the diversity of their work force and be more representative of the audiences they serve.
In July 2021 we partnered with Mind to recruit six members of their policy & campaigns team.
Our attitude concentrated on understanding the organisation, team and skills that would be required to undertake the role, from there it was about stripping back the job descriptions and marketing material to ensure the focus was on transferable skills and capabilities as opposed to sector and experience. This allowed us to partner with and challenge the hiring managers to start redefining what 'good' looks like.
Alongside candidates showcasing their capabilities and skills within the application process, they were given an opportunity to speak/show “lived experience” of mental health problems.
In October 2021 all six of the following roles were filled: Head of Health Policy & Campaigns, Senior Public Affairs Officer, Senior Public Affairs & Campaigns Officer, 2x Senior Policy & Campaigns Officer, Policy & Campaigns Officer and Policy & Campaigns Assistant.
One candidate placed was an internal candidate who received a promotion. This candidate went through the same recruitment process as fresh external applicates. This allowed Mind to “measure” all applicants equally and ensure all candidates had equal equity within the process.
Out of the five candidates we introduced, one was a female from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background, three were white females and one was a white male. Every appointed candidate had lived experience of mental health problems.