FAQs

Identifying the best candidate for a position is the holy grail of hiring. However, many organisations struggle to attract the right calibre of candidate for the role, resulting in wasted time, effort and, in the worst-case scenario, appointing the wrong individual. This is where a candidate persona comes in. Creating a profile of the ideal candidate for the position helps empowers hiring stakeholders to reach a consensus on the calibre of individual they seek to hire. This, in turn, aids them in penning engaging job descriptions, job adverts and recruitment content to attract and engage...

Read more

Finding candidates with both technical and cultural fit is the 'holy grail' of hiring. It's rare to find candidates that are an exact fit and have the desired combination of both. While technical fit was once king, cultural fit has risen up the agenda. It's no longer good enough for candidates to just tick all of the skills boxes. Hiring managers are now on the lookout for candidates that align with their organisation's culture and values; someone that will fit in with the organisation and what it stands for. After all, you can learn technical skills, but soft skills are more difficult to t...

Read more

How can you efficiently and confidently identify the best candidates for a senior management or executive-level role from a pool of prospective candidates? With a robust longlisting and shortlisting process to determine the also-rans from the winners. In this FAQ article, we explore what is longlisting and shortlisting in recruitment, why you need to longlist and shortlist candidates, and how to do so efficiently.

Why do you need longlisting and shortlisting?

Longlisting and shortlisting work in tandem to help you to identi...

Read more

Interim management is defined by the Institute of Interim Management as the "...the provision of effective business solutions by an independent, board or near-board level manager or executive, over a finite timespan." It originated in the Netherlands in the late 20th century in response to the substantial notice periods and costs associated with executive management. An oil crisis and series of recessions created the perfect conditions for interim management to gain a foothold, with weakened companies i...

Read more

An acronym commonly used throughout the Human Resources (HR) and recruitment industry, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) whereby a business subcontracts it's hiring-related operations to a third party provider on a permanent basis. The provider acts as an extension of the clients' HR function, either managing particular elements of the recruitment process or the entire operation. The provider supplies the necessary ...

Read more

Project recruitment is a form of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) designed to support urgent or business-critical human capital transformations. Working in conjunction with an organisations' Talent Acquisition (TA) or Human Resources (HR) function, project recruitment aims t...

Read more

Executive search, otherwise known as headhunting or search and selection, is a specialised form of recruitment used to identify, qualify and shortlist A-players for senior-level or specialist roles. Executive search firms may specialise in a specific sector, for example, the life sciences, or work acro...

Read more

Confused by the difference between executive search and recruitment? You’re not alone. The terms are frequently used interchangeably, even by those working within the staffing industry. However, while executive search firms and recruiters share the same objective - finding the right person for the right role at the right time - there are subtle differenc...

Read more

In this FAQ, we look at retained Vs contingency solutions; how they work and where they differ. It’ a question our consultants field a lot. While Hiring Managers and HR are well aware of recruitment agencies and executive search firms, few understand the subtle differences in their business models and how this can impact a search. Quite simply, choosing between contingent and retained recruitment solution can be the difference between placing a candidate, and not. Here we explore the difference in fees structure, methodology, service quality, exclusivity and relationships, starting with fee...

Read more

What's the difference between active and passive candidates and who should I hire? It's a question our consultants get asked frequently. But while the differences mainly boil down to their personal circumstances and job search activity, each type has its own merits and drawbacks.

Active candidates

Accounting for approximately 25% of the global workforce, active candidates are those individuals who are proactively seeing work. They might be full-time employed or unemployed. There are a number of reasons why these candidates mig...

Read more