In a candidate-scarce market, you have to look further and explore the candidate pool more deeply to find the right people for your team. Here, Steve Stubbings, Business Director Life & Non-Life Actuarial, demystifies the different approaches to recruitment that can help you find the right person for your actuarial and financial services team.
Candidate Goals
When you’re recruiting for a new role, you want to hire someone that wants to join your business. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? However, it’s very easy to attract candidates that are looking for a job but don’t have any particular ambition to work for you. They almost certainly have goals around salary, location, job title and benefits, but aren’t selective about who they work for. This can store up issues for the future, particularly with retention.
My experience at Emerald Group shows time and time again that the best fit for any role is when the candidate actively wants to be in your team: to join your business and be part of what you do. So how do you find these candidates? The retained search solution that we offer at Emerald Group is definitely a route to great – and lasting, hires.
Making a Match
A major challenge with contingency recruitment is that you are posting your job in an open forum, where there will almost certainly be other similar roles, whether you’re looking to fill roles at C-Suite, Partner and Director level all the way through the spectrum to Actuarial Analysts. At this stage, there’s little differentiation between companies or job specs. You’ll probably receive plenty of applications – but those candidates will almost certainly be applying to a number of roles to meet their goal of changing jobs.
The best results often come when we match roles to candidates who aren’t even looking for a new job at the time.
Retaining Emerald Group to search for candidates means we search further and deeper to find the person that you want to hire. Our networks, market knowledge and ability to match people to roles that meet their specific skills and experience mean that we present you with a high-quality shortlist of potential recruits who will join you for all the right reasons.
Selection on Both Sides
Our retained searches bring out honest perspectives from candidates about what would motivate them to move roles. They have questions and we work closely with our clients to answer them. We have clear and honest conversations about financial goals, benefits, promotion aspirations and role responsibilities.
Usually, a candidate on a retained short list is not talking to other companies. They’re considering you against their current role, and our personal interaction with them ensures we respond to them as individuals, addressing their specific questions and drivers. They’re talking to you because they’re interested in you, your company and the opportunities you’ll bring to their careers, not just because you’re a route to a new job.
Culture Counts
Contingency search candidates often respond to job adverts based on salary. However, our experience shows that while money is an essential factor, there are many other considerations in finding the right role. Does the culture of a company fit the candidate? What are the career development opportunities? What does the detail of the role look like? What’s the team dynamic? At Emerald Group we see the difference a retained search process makes to the candidate: when a role is offered, the candidate has the sense that it’s been moulded to them, to fit their goals and aspirations. This increases their commitment to their new job, their team and the organisation.
Added Value
Clients that work with us on a retained basis open up a whole new world of information and market knowledge. We provide you with a curated list of interested candidates and then we go further. We share with you how the market has responded to your role. We share up-to-date perspectives on how the role has been received, whether the scope and responsibilities meet industry best practice and how the salary you’re offering compares with similar roles across the financial and banking sector. We uncover the market perspective on your industry position as an employer – and often give you pointers that will set you apart as an industry leader in the actuarial and financial services market.
Taking a Cold Call?
I’m often asked how it feels to talk to a potential candidate for the very first time. Usually, if a candidate gets a call out of the blue, their first response is to say thanks but they’re not actively job hunting. That’s always fine and I’m still open to a conversation because I know that even if this remains the case for now, I can keep in touch about future opportunities with an understanding of their career plans and goals. It is never time wasted on either side and it’s always worth taking the call – you never know where it may lead. And at Emerald Group, we try to be as flexible as possible so we’re always happy to reschedule a call for a time that works best, including out of normal working hours.
Why isn’t everyone doing it?
Some clients see barriers to working on a retained basis. They can be concerned that they might narrow their candidate pool by sticking with one recruiter, that they might miss a key market area or have concerns about cost.
I can say with absolute certainty that if you work with Emerald Group, our partnership approach makes us an extension of your hiring team. Our success rate for retained actuarial and financial service searches is exceptionally high (we wouldn’t take on a role if we didn’t think we would find the right candidate). We take the time to get to know you, what you’re looking for and to search extensively to find the right person. We talk exclusively to candidates about your role, ensuring they’re not distracted by other opportunities. Yes, there is a cost involved but you’ll need to put less internal team time and resources into your search. You can also feel confident that the candidate you ultimately select will be highly driven and committed to joining your team.
You Won’t Look Back
My challenge to you is when you’re next considering a new hire, think about the difference a retained search approach will make. Then give Emerald Group a call: we’ll talk through the process and practicalities, and you’ll immediately see the value we can add. You’ll have one point of contact keeping you up to date on progress, at a time scale and level of detail that suits you. You’ll experience better outcomes and even candidates who don’t end up joining you will experience a professional recruitment process that puts you in a positive light.
To find out more about how Emerald Group can help you source the best candidates in the actuarial and financial services sectors, please call us on +44 (0)207 283 2520.
The Emerald Group
Industry Leading Recruitment Expertise
for the Actuarial and Financial Services Sector