As businesses rise to meet the needs of a growing global market, they face the unique challenges of building large global teams, often in a very short period of time. To examine some of these challenges, let’s look back at a recent hiring project we completed in partnership with iProspect and Carat. Both researched advertising agency recruiters and selected MarketPro.
iProspect is a leading digital marketing agency with 39 offices in 28 markets and over 800 employees worldwide that work with some of the most well-known brands in the world. Carat, owned by Aegis Group plc, is the world’s leading independent media planning & buying specialist and the market-leader in digital and non-traditional media solutions. Listed on the London stock exchange, Carat’s network involves more than 5,000 people in 70 countries. . MarketPro worked closely with iProspect and Carat to help them put together great teams as quickly as possible.
Tasked to hire 300 people in the U.S. alone and a total of 500 people worldwide in a 90-day period, this was a big opportunity for Carat and iProspect but also an issue of scale. This kind of growth – building an organization from scratch – called for hiring across three different disciplines. Rose told us, “The biggest concern I had was finding a recruiting partner capable of handling one of our largest and most important accounts in the time frame given.”
No matter how tight the time crunch, it’s critical for us to understand our client’s success factors and values, in order to bring in talent that reflects their needs. In this case, we looked a blend of talented candidates who not only had the right technical skills and competencies but who also would make a great culture fit . We sought out candidates who radiated the client’s values of pioneering, ambition and independence. This process of vetting people for cultural qualities as well as competencies results in a thriving work place wherever the office happens to be located.
We asked Laura A., one of the folks we hired, her thoughts on the accelerated hiring process: “I got all of the information I needed in a really quick, timely manner. In fact I was called in for an interview the afternoon after I first spoke with someone. Things moved really quickly. My position was a brand new role, and once I started working, it was completely what I expected it to be.”
Soon after partnering with Carat and iProspect, our recruiters were working in lockstep with the hiring managers, strategizing about who to go after, why and what skills we needed to bring in. “People here see your recruiters as part of our organization,” the hiring manager told us. “I think one of the important things for any partnership to work is that both parties communicate consistently. The partnership was the key to the success in the entire relationship.”
Rather than sending the client 20 resumes, we send five people we have already vetted, functionally and culturally. This process can be scaled up and down depending on the client’s need, whether it’s 30 or 300 new hires they seek. When the client increases the size of the hiring project in a short period of time, you know you’re doing something right. For MarketPro, it’s about proving ourselves in a short period of time and gaining our partners’ confidence.
