Potential clients often contact us when they have urgent need of an executive of some description. “Surely you must have someone in your network?!” they exclaim, incredulously. And of course we do. Sometimes, we can channel Yente, the village matchmaker, and immediately recommend just the right person. Most of the time, however, we need to rely on The Process. The Process has been perfected over many years. The Process has yielded phenomenal results. And, when The Process is over, the clients know that they’re getting the best available talent.
A short while ago, my colleagues were working on three CIO roles at roughly the same salary level and with, broadly, the same requisite experience. For many recruiters, this would’ve been the best way to recycle a couple of shortlists, type fewer executive profiles and, certainly, a chance for our consultants to spend less time interviewing. But, for three searches, where we shortlisted five candidates per search, there wasn’t a single candidate ‘overlap’.
Not only is this respectful to our awesome clients, showing that we’re not jeopardising their chances of making a successful appointment by introducing the candidates to our other awesome clients, but it also shows that we “get it”. We’ve asked the tough questions. We’ve built connection with our clients and candidates and we’re pretty sure we know who will fit, from a culture perspective.
So, yes, we do have people in our network. And we’re building that network daily. But we won’t just send you a CV because it ticks boxes. We’ll get to know you. And, at the end of The Process, you’ll know us, too, and can be certain we won’t recycle a shortlist, except in the paper-saving way.
– Advaita Naidoo
COO