reviews and consultant of the month. The next step is to link individuals’ NPSs with remuneration. Gavin Tew, co-founder of technology recruiter Source Technology, told the audience that a customerfocused approach had “a transformational effect on customer engagement and the purchases we were seeing” at IT recruiter Nicoll Curtin, where he worked with former managing director Lawrence Hargreaves before the two founded Source Technology in October. Tew said the thinking behind the firm’s approach came from a 2014 MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) report, which showed that customers who ‘participate’ are more likely to become repeat customers and to spend more. At Nicoll Curtin, Hargreaves said customer participation, or “the glue” binding the company and its customers together, was boosted by asking clients for exclusivity on assignments and to recommend them to colleagues. “Our attitude was very much ‘can we do better, what else can we do?’. It’s very simple and it doesn’t cost much,” he said. The higher level of interaction and resultant feedback was also an opportunity “to rectify any issues”, Hargreaves added.
FRASER BUTTERS Facilitator
BELINDA WALMSLEY Brookfield Rose
Hire in experience first for marketing function SARAH MARQUET
THE FIRST STEP in creating a great inhouse marketing team is to make a senior hire because you can’t afford for that first person to be inexperienced. Adam Nicoll, head of marketing at FiveTen Group, said a recruitment agency looking to set up a marketing function should hire a senior marketing manager, which would typically cost £35-60k in annual salary, in order to gain strategic knowledge. Panellist Fiona Murray, HCL Workforce Solutions head of marketing,
ADAM NICOLL FiveTen Group
FIONA MURRAY HCL Workforce Solutions
agreed, saying that first marketing hire needed to have the experience and ability to take the business plan to market, and have the agility to tweak it as the market changes. And the third panellist, Belinda Walmsley, group marketing manager for Brookfield Rose, said building all facets of marketing in-house — digital, graphic design and general marketing — gives a business agility, rather than outsourcing any function. Nicoll said having it all in-house, provided there was enough work for the people, also worked out cheaper than outsourcing to agencies. Speaking to Recruiter after the show, he said the level of marketing experience a company needed comes down to whether it wants to orchestrate visibility or deliver customer dialogue, engagement and loyalty. “The latter requires more experience and commitment. It’s also harder to find and costs more.” ▶
F U T U R E R E C RU I T M E N T C ON S U LTA N T: T H E PA N E L L I S T S
Ricky Martin MD Hyper Recruitment Solutions, Jane Vincent MD Candelisa People and Lee McQueen founder of Raw Talent Academy, agreed the great future recruitment consultant should have: ● An understanding of all facets of the industry — internal, external, direct sourcing ● The ability to add value through guiding clients on employer branding and cultural fit ● Resilience, high emotional intelligence and the ability to adapt to different people and situations WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 27
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