JSD has a clear process for conducting a search. There were many twists in the road from the start of our search to the day on which our candidate started; and many hurdles to overcome to make a great placement for our client and their chosen candidate. Here are some of the main points of learning:

• Listening to our client: making sure that you target the right people and spread your net wide helps to pull together the best possible shortlist. We had many long and in-depth conversations with our client to check understanding and to ensure we were well positioned to find the right people.
• The search: we identified around 80 people with the skillset we were looking for, using many different search techniques. This required a level of resilience and perseverance in order to gently persuade candidates already in roles to think about their career development and to consider this new opportunity.
• Rejection of candidates: unsuccessful candidates are just as important as the successful ones. We presented thorough feedback to each rejected candidate to not only to highlight development points for the future, but also to make sure that they left this particular process feeling positive about our client and about us; willing to engage again on another occasion.
• Producing the shortlist: our client enjoyed the experience of engaging with each of our shortlisted candidates, and their selection came down to their confidence that the individual they selected was commercially excellent and would fit well with their team and with the wider business.
• The placement: our client relied on us to make things happen. We needed to stay on top of the detail, such as intricacies of the role package, the constraints of home life, candidate location, and their right to work in the UK.

I enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with candidates and our client, clearing the hurdles and making an exceptional placement for all.  I learned how important it is to take time to understand the brief, to build relationships with everyone, to ask lots of questions and get into the detail. I also learned that everyone is different, and that people are not predictable which is why recruitment is exciting.

Author: Tom Hill