Case Study: Appointing a Senior Leader in a Rural & Regional Community Housing Context
Argyle Community Housing Limited
Client: Argyle Community Housing Limited
Role: Senior Leadership Appointment (Operations / Housing Services)
Search Type: Retained Search
Sector: Community Housing | Social & Affordable Housing
Location: Rural & Regional NSW
The Challenge
Argyle Community Housing Limited operates across regional, rural and remote communities, delivering essential housing services in areas where access to talent, services and infrastructure is often limited.
The organisation was seeking to appoint a senior leader at a time of increasing complexity across the community housing sector — including regulatory compliance, tenant complexity, asset management pressures and workforce sustainability challenges.
This was not a metro-based leadership role with a deep candidate pool. The brief required a leader who could:
- Operate effectively in a regional and remote context
- Balance operational delivery with strategic leadership
- Lead multidisciplinary teams spread across large geographic areas
- Navigate the realities of housing vulnerable tenants with complex needs
- Build trust and credibility with local communities, stakeholders and partners
- Work collaboratively with an executive team and Board
The combination of location, sector specificity and leadership scope significantly narrowed the available talent pool.
Our Approach
Be Recruitment partnered with Argyle Community Housing Limited through a retained search, allowing time and space to approach the market thoughtfully and strategically.
Our process focused on:
- Deep consultation to understand Argyle’s operating environment, organisational culture and leadership expectations
- Clarifying the balance between hands-on operational leadership and strategic oversight
- Designing a targeted search strategy that extended beyond traditional advertising
- Actively engaging leaders with experience across community housing, social services and regional operations — including those not actively seeking new roles
- Assessing candidates on leadership maturity, adaptability and cultural fit, not just technical housing experience
Given the rural and regional nature of the role, we also tested candidates’ motivation for regional leadership, resilience, and ability to lead in environments where resources and supports differ from metropolitan settings.
The Outcome
The retained search resulted in the successful appointment of a senior leader with:
- Strong experience in community and human services
- Proven capability leading dispersed teams across regional footprints
- A pragmatic, people-centred leadership style suited to regional communities
- The ability to operate confidently across tenancy management, assets, compliance and stakeholder engagement
- A clear understanding of the realities of delivering housing services in rural and remote locations
The appointment strengthened Argyle’s leadership capacity and supported continuity of service delivery across its regional communities.
Why Retained Search Was Essential
This appointment could not be achieved through a high-volume or contingent recruitment model.
A retained approach enabled:
- Access to a broader, more senior and regionally open talent pool
- Time to properly assess candidate motivations for regional and remote leadership
- Careful evaluation of leadership capability, values alignment and cultural fit
- Ongoing advisory support to Argyle throughout decision-making
- A high-confidence appointment aligned to both immediate operational needs and longer-term sustainability
The Result
✔ A successful senior leadership appointment in a hard-to-fill regional market
✔ Improved leadership stability across rural and remote operations
✔ Strong alignment with Argyle’s values and community-focused mission
✔ A trusted recruitment partnership grounded in sector and regional expertise
