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B4 SPOTLIGHT

HAVE YOU THOUGHTABOUT YOUR NEXTCAREER MOVE?B4 Platinum Ambassador Katherine Dales of The Career Boutique has been consistent in her approach torecruitment, consistently different, that is, from the normal approach to this crucial aspect of our working lives…hiring new talent. Richard Rosser reports for B4.

There’s nothing new about trying to securegood quality staff but Katherine Dales and hercolleagues at The Career Boutique arecertainly winning lots of friends with the waythey go about doing so. It’s maybe not acrusade but it’s an approach which isdefinitely different and certainly working.

“We are in our fourth year now and although wehad very different ideas about recruitment whenwe started, they are now accepted as standardpractice by our clients who have seen ourapproach reap rewards for them. I know that weall face challenges, but 2012 is going to be anexciting year for all of us. We are always positive,always up and we transmit that positive energyto our clients and the candidates we put forwardfor interview. We will be using events this yearsuch as the Olympics and Jubilee to be thecatalysts for a fresh approach.”

Katherine concedes that recruiting new staff isstill a challenge for many businesses but thatthere are plenty who are expanding and activelyrecruiting. “The market is still quite reserved,however, it is much more buoyant than it hasbeen in recent years and we are seeing a lot ofour clients shaking off the shackles and lookingto make great strides in 2012. I can’t preach tomy clients that just because we are in a new yearmeans they should go and recruit for the sake ofit. Nobody knows their business better than theclient, but what we are saying is ‘explore thepossibilities….there are some very talentedpeople out there who may be able to push yourcompany on to the next level.’”

Over four years Katherine has cultivated a loyalcustomer base that trusts her and everything shestands for. With a company in its relative infancy,Katherine has had to make an impression on herclients and responds surprisingly when I ask whyher clients are so loyal. “They trust us, plain andsimple, but they trust us even more when thingsgo wrong. By that I mean how we handleourselves when the candidates don’t turn up, orwhen they ‘false stage’ at an interview. How wedeal with the negatives has helped us to makean impression. We pull out all of the stops to putthings right and our clients see that we are trying

to give them what they want – the right personfor the job.”

Katherine’s track record is impressive and thetrust in her ability to deliver is growing andattracting new clients on a daily basis. “Clientsknow we are not time wasters. Where doessending a ‘dead candidate’ get anyone? What’sthe point of recommending someone for a jobinterview when you know they’re not right? Ouraim is to get success quickly and I’d rather notsend my client a candidate at all than waste theirtime sending people who aren’t cut out for thejob. This means we have to get to know what theclient is looking for, and as we develop and gainmore experience, we are becoming more in tunewith our clients’ needs, enabling us to source theright candidate quickly.”

Katherine admits some clients question herapproach because they have been used tointerviewing a stream of inappropriate candidateswith other agencies. “Our approach isn’t typical,that’s for sure, and we do have clients expressingsurprise when we tell them there haven’t beenany suitable candidates for a job. It’s a very fineline we are treading here because some clientswill actually expect to interview candidates whoclearly aren’t up for the role as part of theprocess. That’s wrong. We are breaking themould, but it has caused friction in the past, butwe have won over so many clients with our freshapproach and, I’m pleased to say, they stay withus.”

It’s a two way street, however. Katherine has theinterests of two parties to protect in anyplacement, those of the client and the candidate,and she’s not backwards in coming forwards. Ifthe client has got it, in her opinion, wrong. “Weare here to deliver the right person for the job.We won’t deliver on appearance or age or anyother tailor made requirements clients might liketo throw into the mix. One client, in particular,would interview candidates and not come backto them, or provide constructive feedback, whichwasn’t fair. It was damaging their reputation. Thecandidates are ringing up and saying they haven’theard from them yet and thinking why are weworking with The Career Boutique – it damages

our reputation and it comes to a point where youhave to tell the client to be fair to the candidates– we eventually lose confidence that this issomeone we want to employ our candidates. Wehave as much of a duty of care to our candidatesas we do to our clients.”

Differentiating The Career Boutique from theHigh Street has always been Katherine’s modusoperandi. “We don’t want to be a ‘CV churner’and we’re not into heavy cold calling to winbusiness. If we see a business advertising avacancy, we will send them a brochure and askif we can help, but we’re not into bombardingthem with our services. We are certainly gainingplaudits for our approach and, as I said before,we are winning. If I’ve learned anything in fouryears it’s that you certainly can’t please everyone,but there are enough people and businesses outthere who share our views, our ethos and ourway of working to ensure we continue to growand build what is already a successful business.”

With year on year growth, a healthy client baseand heaps of very satisfied candidates, Katherinereflects on the first four years with a hugeamount of satisfaction. “Not only are we growingbut we are spreading our net wider and wider.From my point of view, I’m working on aEuropean and global level. We want to achieveglobal placements and we are now in that arena.With clients now in their third or fourth year withus we know our approach is right and we arealso getting candidates coming back to us aftersuccessful short term placements or where theyneed to make a change. Candidates arerecommending their friends and we haveexcellent referrals between our clients.”

Getting to know their clients is something of anart form. Knowing what your clients are lookingfor, second guessing their requirements, knowingwhich candidates will fit into their team takes skilland you need an agency with experience and,above all, someone who cares about theplacement….. and there is absolutely noquestion that Katherine Dales cares.

www.thecareerboutique.com

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