Thursday, November 7, 2013

Pronexia’s 3rd year anniversary and the key to our success!

Pronexia has recently celebrated its 3rd year anniversary. The date was a significant milestone considering the less than impressive statistics of our booming industry. According to numerous studies, 50% of recruitment start ups in North America do not survive their one year anniversary and 80% do not make it to the two year mark. Celebrating our anniversary with newly hired consultants in our newly expanded office space was certainly rewarding.

Our success can be attributed to a variety of factors, at the core of which were the corporate values selected by our two founding partners in 2010. These values are:

- Fit comes first

- Exceptional client & candidate experience

- Integrity & transparency at every level

We differentiate ourselves by applying these to every step of the recruitment cycle, from initial client and candidate engagement through to the after-sale process. Utilizing these for our Internal Branding is seamless, yet the challenge arises when we partner up with clients whose values are strikingly different.

Early on we realized that our clients had an immediate impact on Pronexia’s reputation. For that reason, we are increasingly cautious about the clients we partner up with and the candidates we represent. Our commitment to each client is to treat them as though they are the only account we have and to provide our unwavering attention and impeccable service. We have parted ways with a number of companies in Montreal simply because their internal culture did not align with ours and would prevent us from excelling in the service we provide to both parties.

Here are some of the criteria we use when signing on a new account:

  • Work environment. We visit every single potential client before starting a search. We get infused with energy and inspiration when visiting a company whose decision makers make a clear commitment to creating a comfortable and appealing work space.

  • Inspiring leadership. In addition to visiting every client, we ensure that we meet the actual hiring manager – the person to whom our candidate would report if hired. We put ourselves in our candidates’ shoes and envision what it would feel like to work for the person in front of us. This makes the decision for a potential partnership fairly easy to make.

  • Fair market compensation. Our client roster includes many small businesses and even start ups. They sometimes find it difficult to compete with salaries offered by international conglomerates. That being said, companies committed to a strong Employer Brand offer an array of perks and other intangible benefits to compensate. If a prospective client offers a salary that is lower than the going market rate, yet is flexible with work hours, offers telecommuting arrangements, company shares or any other similar things, it makes them an attractive employer.

  • Ability to make a decision. Statistically our clients hire 1 out of 3 candidates they interview through Pronexia, which an unusually impressive success rate in our industry.  The reason for this success is our thorough and meticulous recruitment process. We are even more selective than most of our clients and commit to only presenting the top talent that can be found on the market. As part of our commitment to the candidates to provide them with quick feedback and to be a true partner in their search, we simply cannot work with clients who require dozens of resumes and interviews just to fill an internal quota.

To summarize, our success can be attributed to a variety of factors: a strong internal brand, commitment to presenting our clients only with the strongest candidates on the market, corporate values at the core of everything we do and … perhaps most importantly – our ability to fire a client who does not align with all of the above.

Stay tuned for the next blog post where we will share anecdotes about some of our client experiences that led us to disengage from current or potential partnerships! Share below – do you take on each and every client you can? If not, what are your criteria when deciding to disengage?

 

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