While we recruit for both IT and cybersecurity and office professionals roles, our two recruitment arms have one thing in common – putting the candidate experience at the heart of everything we do.
At both Identifi Global and Identifi Office Professionals, our consultants are bound by our Candidate Charter: a 13-point model that outlines our obligations to every candidate we work with, and that forms the basis for our consultants’ commission payments.
Both of our brands have been completely candidate-led since the start. Here’s how we ensure that the candidate experience is – and continues to be – at the forefront of everything we do.
Where it all began
After spending years in multiple recruitment companies – from small specialists to large multinationals – Identifi founders Gary Fay and Pete Sanders realised that something was missing.
In cybersecurity, for example, there were – and still are – huge skill shortages, leading to a war for talent. So why, in that case, were recruiters focusing heavily on the candidate that got the job, and losing sight of the other candidates in the process?
They knew that there was a market for recruitment agencies that focused on the candidate experience, in a market that was becoming increasingly candidate-led. Historically, such agencies – which are, by nature, sales-led – have had their culture defined by this approach, treating the candidate as a commodity.
“Our consultants understand the true value of each and every candidate.”
Identifi Global and Identifi Office Professionals were born on the basis of delivering an exceptional candidate experience. It’s not simply something we say: it’s woven into the fabric of the business and the DNA of who we are, and has been since the very start. Our consultants understand the true value of each and every candidate, all of our activities are candidate-led, and our measurements are based on the candidate experience. With candidates holding the key to the relationship at the moment, we strongly believe that this is the future of recruitment.
How we guarantee a great candidate experience
Underpinning our commitment to the candidate experience is our Candidate Charter, which we review and update annually. You’ll find the charter highlighted on both the identifi Global and identifi Office Professionals websites – and if candidates we place tell us their experience didn’t match these standards, our consultants won’t receive their full commission.
Our current Candidate Charter reads as follows:
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As one of our candidates, we will always provide you with market insight & independent and unbiased career advice.
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We promise to always present the right information in our external communications and will never knowingly mislead you.
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All applications and communications will be processed with complete confidentiality. You record will be constantly updated and kept current in in line with GDPR.
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As a candidate, you will always be treated with honesty, empathy & integrity
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You will not be put forward for a role without your express written permission.
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You will always be provided with a full job specification, salary information and details of key benefits.
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We endeavour to place you in the right company and team culture, using our knowledge of the client and our free personality assessment tools.
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We will always respond to your requests within 24 hours and update you on your application every 48 hours or sooner.
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We will always offer the opportunity to meet with us in person. In some cases, this may be required before we can submit you to a role. Your consultant will advise of this.
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We will always let you know when a position has been filled or withdrawn.
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We will always provide you with detailed information about the processes for upcoming interviews, keeping you informed and prepared.
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We ensure our technology is kept up to date to provide you with the best possible service and to ensure your information is kept safe & secure.
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We will always listen to your feedback and act upon it.
For us, it’s important that these values are not simply words on paper, but that they are a real reflection of us, the way we transact and the way we want to deliver our business. That’s why we’ve taken the time to truly set out who we are, and why our consultants’ commission payments are dependent on these standards being met.
Other agencies focus their KPIs on the number of calls made, the number of clients brought on board, the number of jobs brought in each week. Ours are based on the experience of every single candidate we deal with. If we put four people forward for a role and all four are interviewed, we will survey every single one to find out if we delivered against our Candidate Charter. An average score of 9 or more will mean that consultants receive 100% of their commission, 7-8 equates to 75%, 5-6 50%, and scores of four and below mean zero commission payments.
In this way, we guarantee quality right from the start. While we are a sales business, the sale and commission are hung on quality, rather than simply making the sale. In candidate-short markets, we know that we can’t afford to focus purely on the one candidate who is placed: we need to make sure that the other candidates who applied for the role also have a great experience, and go away having had a really positive experience with our brand, making them more likely to come to us in the future.
Getting the right fit
How do you find the right candidate for a role? Traditionally, ability has been measured by technical skills and experience – but many employers are now realising that technical skills can be taught. Our focus is more on the ability to measure culture – to find the candidate who will fit best culturally within a company.
For the last two and a half years, we have been offering free psychometric testing to our candidates, allowing us to quantify culture and fit. By understanding an individual’s working style, we can give everybody a more holistic view of the candidate to establish not just whether they have the relevant skills for a role, but whether they are right for a particular organisation.
Since the launch of our new website, candidates can complete a variety of personality assessment tasks that are automatically captured in their candidate record on our database. It’s this combination of our personal interactions with candidates and this unique use of technology that enables us to go beyond just the technical skill set to find the right person for the right role.
Personalising the candidate experience
When used in the right way, tech can be a valuable tool in improving the candidate experience. When used wrongly, it can frustrate candidates and make them feel as though they are a commodity.
Keyword searches – from job boards and agencies alike – can lead to impersonal and often unsuitable job specs being sent out: an unpersonalised approach that may include jobs that are in the wrong location, jobs that don’t suit a candidate’s seniority level, or roles that are unsuitable in some other way.
Our use of tech is designed to enhance the candidate experience. One of the biggest frustrations candidates face is a lack of communication: simply not knowing whether their CV has been received, whether it has been put forward to the client, what is currently happening in the application process. We use tech to provide these updates – to communicate with each candidate and keep them informed throughout.
“Candidates will see a personalised view of our site, based on what we know about them.”
Personalised tech is also an important part of our website offering. With candidates’ permission, our aim is to build a rich bank of data on each and every person to give them a more unique and specific service. Rather than seeing random jobs in faraway locations with inappropriate salary levels, candidates will see a personalised view of our site, based on what we know about them.
This will include being presented with jobs close to where they live, in the sectors in which they are interested, and based on their previous search criteria. Rather than the few minutes of personalised service that candidates have historically received from agencies, our aim is to create long term, relevant, personal relationships in everything from our personal dealings with candidates to their interactions with our website.
The next five years in recruitment
Over the next five to ten years, we see the recruitment process continuing to shift from a transactional agreement to a relationship. We believe that candidates will stop posting their CVs on job boards for people to find, and will instead choose one agency as their go-to agency when looking for a change of role.
Of course, candidates will still use services like LinkedIn and social networking sites to garner knowledge and information, but will switch to wanting a career-long relationship with an agency who truly understands their experience, their aspirations and their needs.
At both Identifi Global and Identifi Office Professionals, we’re working hard to make this happen. The future of recruitment is set to be exciting, and it’s an industry we’re proud to be a part of. And while there are plenty of great ideas out there for moving the industry forward, these ideas will be nothing more than ideas unless they are put into action.
That’s why we’re so focused on understanding what can really make a difference within our industry and measuring our own performance against it. It’s an approach that’s helped us to carve out our own niche within the industry – and one that’s truly designed to put the candidate at the heart of the recruitment experience.
Looking for a recruitment experience that is tailored to suit you? Take a look at the latest roles from Identifi Global and Identifi Office Professionals.
