Retained Search Services
Our Retained Search service offers tailored approach to talent acquisition for top-tier firms, ensuring exhaustive market mapping and strategic placements that prioritize cultural alignment, technical proficiency, and long-term organizational synergy.
When a company is facing the need to fill a vacancy at the managerial or executive level, a short timeframe for finalising upon a candidate can sometimes result in a shallow and non-exhaustive search. The pressure from deadlines and the lack of viable alternatives can significantly increase the risk of cutting corners in the process and of arriving at an outcome that is not ideal in the long run, neither for the chosen candidate nor for the company.
In these cases, the primary tool for resolving this challenge comprises expanding, both extensively and in terms of depth, the pool of contacts from which the search is to be originated. This means drawing an accurate map of the market that will include every profile that is potentially suitable to fill the open position.
This approach guarantees the peace of mind resulting from having proactively explored the entire perimeter of the available options in order to make the most reasonable and value-adding choice. Our Retained Search services offer a systematic approach to market mapping and the targeted generation of high-level applications to clients who care for the depth as well as the transparency of the methods employed in the search process.
The exhaustiveness of the initial mapping work contributes to the reduction of the time required to conclude the selection process and also increases the overall effectiveness of the processes, with a higher level of final satisfaction experienced by the involved internal stakeholders.
How it works
Upon activation of the assignment, our project manager meets the internal stakeholders involved in the selection process and builds, together with the client’s HR department, an exhaustive profiling of the candidate required. We move beyond professional and managerial requirements and pay particular attention to the company’s culture and the communication and interpersonal skills required for the profile.
This in-depth profiling is aimed, ultimately, to optimise the integration and the future development of the chosen person in the company’s organisational context. If the client desires using psychological and behavioural tests in the selection process, we can activate a sequence of internal assessments taking advantage of the diagnostic tools of the prestigious McQuaig Institute of Toronto. These tools help in isolating the traits of current top performers in the specific role being researched, thus enabling us to look for the same traits among the candidates under examination at a later stage.
After defining the requirements, we assign a team of internal resources to the project and activate a specific mapping plan for the target area of the market in question. We use our extensive network of contacts as a starting point and generate tailored referrals for the open position.
Thereafter, by combining all referrals that have emerged with our already existing data, we produce a report containing an exhaustive map of the sector under investigation. We can, hence, contact each individual candidate figuring in the map, provide them with the information about the vacancy, and select the most suitable and engaged ones for the first long list.
After a second interview stage conducted by our project manager, the evaluation of the assessments, and a thorough selection on the basis of all the elements gathered, we present to the client the final shortlist, which includes the complete mapping report and a summary of every step we have undertaken to reach the presented results. In this way, the client can take advantage of the complete visibility with which the entire process is conducted and easily request for any amendments that need to be made to the shortlist, for example, adding or excluding specific target companies or candidates on the basis of additional information the business might possess.
After gaining approval on the shortlist, our project manager works alongside the client and the candidates during the interview, negotiation, and offer phases to achieve the best mutual outcome. If required, he can help with fine-tuning specific aspects of the negotiation before the offer is extended and accepted. We also support the candidate with handling his notice serving, ensuring a smooth transition into the new role.
Post placement
After the candidate has started working in the new role, our project manager organises a debriefing meeting with the client, who then has the opportunity to give an overall feedback on the process, and if required, highlight any areas of improvement and make additional requests for future searches.
The process ends with a post-placement meeting with the candidate, usually programmed to be conducted one month after the starting date. This meeting is aimed at collecting exhaustive feedback on the candidate’s experience of the selection process and highlight any additional requests that could enhance his development path and performance in the new function.
We decide with the candidate upon the elements that should be brought to the company’s attention to make sure that he is put in the best possible condition to contribute towards the goals and objectives of the organisation.
