A Day in The Life of our Consultancy Division – The Future Cities Case Study
Phase 3 – Selling the Dream
This third in a series of blog case studies follows our Lead IoT Consultant, Stuart White, as he helps a Community Interest Company change the world over the next five years by recruiting the niche skills required to reimagine how cities will work in the future using innovative technology.
You can read about Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the recruitment project here.
“We’re now well and truly underway with the campaign to build an initial team of 20 people.
This week, I’ve been onsite overseeing an assessment day where the client was keen to recruit six data scientists. We met with the management team first who presented their conclusions from a brief I designed and set, which was a small assignment that would showcase how good they are at what they do.
It was critical that at this next stage, the interview, my client fully appreciated and understood how to properly sell their product and brand. The management candidates were from the passive market and already in good employment; they’re sought after and their niche sills are in high demand. I needed to work with my client to help them approach the interviews in the right way. You don’t grill candidates like these – you have to sell the dream and sell your vision to secure them.
The Candidate Tour
The candidate experience was part of the ‘sell’. After the interviews, we then met with the candidates for an hour more informally. I then advised that we took the candidates on a tour of my client’s incredible building so they could get a taste of how work life would be. The candidates saw, first hand, what this high performing business looked like and how it treated its people. There’s a real community feel about an organisation of this kind so we showed the candidates the gyms, running tracks, yoga studio, onsite canteen (which provides free breakfast and lunch) and even how they allow dogs to accompany their owners to work. It’s hard not to be impressed.
As a result, the feedback from candidates was great. Talented data scientists are hard to find outside London – even more so in my client’s remote location on the coast. My client is looking for the crème de la crème of this talent – data scientists who can not only analyse data but also recommend solutions! A partner business has recently rinsed the market of that talent which has made the job even harder, so the sell is even more critical to success. We’re looking further afield for talent so I must help my client convey just how great an opportunity this is for candidates.
There’s still work to do. I’ve managed, against many odds, to put some very qualified candidates in already but we’ve all quickly learnt that they aren’t the right cultural fit – and that is as important as finding the required skills. I now have a very clear idea of the type of person and fit they need and we’ve had a candidate go through from the assessment day already.
As I continue this journey with my client, I’m building credibility and trust. They now listen and take my advice on how to sculpt this project. The next priority is to recruit the CTO, shape three management positions and fill the remaining analyst roles in a very short lead time.”
Find out what happens in Phase 4 of this interesting recruitment campaign.