Going where no recruiter has gone before

Even the most experienced recruiters can find it challenging to find the right people to fill entirely new roles in new locations. As an example, take a seasoned recruiter in a manufacturing environment—she is used to hiring line engineers and shift production workers—but now she’s being asked to recruit an entire e-commerce team. Making the shift from hiring traditional industrial roles to hiring technical and creative digital experts is a giant leap, to say the least. Without prior experience, developing sourcing strategies, building talent pools, developing an attractive employer brand, writing job requisitions, and screening viable applications for an entirely new talent profile can be both challenging and time-consuming.

A real-life case study

That’s exactly why our RPO team was asked to help our client, a $1.3 billion manufacturing and distribution business with 100+ years of experience. The manufacturer was launching a strategy to leverage its online wholesale/retail business—currently representing only 3% of total revenue—as its engine for future growth. To make such a significant change meant hiring the best, most dedicated digital talent as an accelerant. As such, our client needed to source a dedicated team of e-commerce pros in a market where the demand for such candidates far exceeded the supply. Adding to the challenge, our client’s employment brand was virtually non-existent among digital talent pools. Broadleaf was brought in to help find 15 qualified candidates, ranging from Director to Analyst, who possessed both technical and creative talents.

Our team hit the ground running, combining our experiences recruiting digital talent for manufacturing businesses with our client’s strong presence in the industry. We also tapped into our toolbox of social media recruiting tools to source candidates, and once the top candidates were identified, we used structured interviews to pre-screen and present them to the client.

Three months later…

The results speak for themselves. Within 90 days of initial engagement, our client hired 15 technology and digital professionals, ranging from Director-level to Developers and Analysts. In all cases, candidates met or exceeded requirements. The average time-to-hire was 27 days, roughly 51% faster than the industry average of 55 days. Additionally, a 42% cost saving was realized by our client.

Does your organization need assistance hiring digital talent? Get in touch with the Broadleaf team today.

Find out how your company can benefit from a well-designed RPO solution by downloading our E-Book, “A Common Sense Guide to RPO for Digital Talent Acquisition.”

Originally published on April 10, 2019