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Like for many in our sector, it’s been “interesting times” of late.
As it’s been a while since our last latest news/review, we thought we’d take the opportunity to briefly cover some of the highlights of the last 12 months.
We’ve seen the welcome increase in recruitment activity from clients new and old, as well as developments in the market which we’ve reacted to in order to foster our ability to deliver against those challenges.
Please take a couple of minutes to find out more…
Is it back to business as usual?
The second half of 2021 saw a steady return to more normal trading conditions after the prolonged challenges of the pandemic.
We launched a number of high-profile search processes in Finance, Sales, IT and operations for varied clients in Distribution, Technical Innovation, Asset Management, Retail and Manufacturing – encompassing Furniture, Advanced Textiles and Speciality Chemicals.
At Barron Williams, we’re incredibly privileged to work with a broad range of clients across a number of sectors.
We delight in getting to know our clients’ unique characteristics and requirements and then deploying our systematic approach to address their people needs.
Sector specialist or people specialist?
In our view, a lot of nonsense is spoken about sector specialism in recruitment – usually by recruiters using that model.
When we’re asked “what’s your specialism” we reply “people”.
We’ve made it our business to find great people for great clients… And it works!
We didn’t need to be Accountants to find a fantastic CFO for our Distribution client.
Our formula is tried and tested. Find great candidates. Sell them the opportunity. Introduce them to our client!
Understanding their business (we’re not in distro either) and their key deliverables for the role is the key fundamental.
We agree on a candidate profile and sought out the people who matched that using the power of our candidate-driven brand.
The role was marketed via our LinkedIn channel and various ‘above the line’ routes to market to attract the right candidates.
We approached relevant search prospects and politely and persistently followed up.
Numerous emails, calls, LinkedIn connections and referrals…
Practising the dark arts of recruitment
As we stated above, our expertise is people.
Understanding them. Understanding you. As a client or candidate. Matching one to the other.
We do this by applying practice and experience to a thorough process.
Taking an agile approach, allows us to adapt to the individual needs of both the client and candidate.
These are the “dark arts” of recruitment. And this tailored approach found the right CFO for our new Distribution client and the right Operations Director for our Manufacturing clients, amongst a host of other roles of course.
New business keeping us busy
The return of clients known to us is a testament to the value we’ve created in our relationships and affirmation of our ability to deliver against even the most complex and challenging role briefs.
Similarly, it is extremely satisfying to receive recommendations and referrals from people who know us as candidates – both new candidates and clients.
We have benefitted from both recently, adding to our database or ExecBank of talent and to new client introductions.
Also noteworthy for us, has been the increase of brand new client enquiries.
Since the launch of our current website, we have seen a steady increase in traffic, and the resulting enquiries from people who didn’t know us but found a match in our values and approach.
Again, it is extremely satisfying to attract not just new clients, but the right new clients… Keep them coming!
Let us know what you really think
It’s great to receive feedback. It helps us refine and improve processes, and we continually look for ways to make our service better.
Markets are constantly evolving and we need to evolve as needs change.
Recently, in the last year or so under review, we have seen that candidate availability is an increasing issue.
Good candidates are not available indefinitely.
In response, we’ve improved our process to shorten the time between the recruitment process stages.
This means that our clients are able to select from the candidates they want – and select them quicker!
This requires methodical planning, application and hard work on our part but it demonstrates our commitment to addressing and reacting to the changes and challenges we face.
Of course, it requires our clients to work with us to speed up the longlist and shortlist process but they understand the benefits of being flexible and working with us to get the best people into their organisation.
Adapting to change
Finally, the joy of being a very focused team means that we work closely together, intuitively and flexibly, to the benefit of our customers.
We can react to situations and make decisions quickly. The challenge comes when we’re busy (but we like that).
What it does mean is that we are clear in what we do and who we do it for. We work for clients who value our high-quality, consultative approach.
If you’re looking for a purely contingent, non-exclusive service, that’s not Barron Williams.
If you’re looking for a close partnership-based recruitment relationship then please let us know!
We can help you find the right people to fulfil those crucial roles for your organisation, please use our Client Upload Form or call us today.
Alternatively, if you’re looking to find or apply for a new role, then please feel free to Upload Your CV or call us for an exploratory conversation.
