The biggest mistake we as PPA could have made was assuming that we understood the client’s current needs based off of our previous experience with them. As they had been trying to recruit someone to the Sales Manager position for 6+ months
It was important that we understood:
The current performance of their sales team.
The part the ideal candidate played was a person who was going to be a part of what the business would be moving forward.
The targets that the ideal candidate needed to meet in the immediate future
We had a meeting with the hiring managers to discuss all of the above and more, with the expectations that the individual they were looking for would need to be headhunted. Using a combination of candidates sourced through our current database and networks, as well as reaching out to new candidates using LinkedIn, we were able to pull together a pool of candidates who had the right experience. Our interview questions were focused on identifying whether the candidates could tangibly display the three key skills needed for the position.
The Outcome
The process that had taken them 6+ months with no results was resolved in 3 months from initial contact to the candidate reporting into work.