What inspired you to start Retrained Search, and what problem in the recruitment industry were you aiming to solve?
I was a contingent recruiter for many years before I transitioned to retained so I absolutely understand the struggles that consultants face working on a contingent basis.
I know how frustrating it is when fees fall out, how it feels to be used by clients and how hard it is to grow a business where revenue forecasts are so unpredictable.
Once I discovered how to move my clients to retained I helped my former company, Airswift, to build their retained function from scratch and that today sees over $12 million come from retained business. I have since then gone on to work for one of the world’s leading research firms and learnt sophisticated executive search methodologies at a classical search firm.
So, I can tell you from first-hand experience that retained search elevates the relationships you have with your clients, gives you access to bigger and more senior projects, it improves your skills in sales and delivery and produces guaranteed forecastable revenue.
Our mission at Retrained Search is to empower every single recruiter worldwide to realise their potential by equipping them with the skills, knowledge, confidence, and materials they need to transition their relationships to retained!
With an estimated 3.5 million recruiters across the globe, we know we've got quite a journey ahead of us. But we’re excited to help as many as possible, and we hope that we can help you maximise profits, results, and happiness.
Contingent recruitment is a well-established model. Why do you believe the shift to retained search is crucial for the future of recruitment agencies?
Recruiters often come to us frustrated with the limitations of the contingent model, which often result in uncertainty of payment, limited time and energy for each role and only a one in five fill rate per role. This model can cause significant financial stress and anxiety for recruiters.
When working retrained, as a recruiter, you can dedicate more time and energy into each search as you are working with committed clients, achieve over a 95% fill rate, as well as receiving much more predictable revenue.
Having predictable, forecastable revenue is a game-changer. It alters your behaviour and transforms the way you feel about your day, week, and month because everything starts to become calmer, more assured and more confident.
The retained model provides you with more predictability and helps you deliver superior results for both clients and candidates. It's a win/win which is why I would recommend the retained search model to recruiters, over the contingency model.
What were some of the key challenges you faced when developing your training programme, and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was transforming the in-person training into bite-sized online content. It took three months to script, film each video, and build the e-learning platform.
Next came the challenge of marketing—while I had an extensive network, I needed to spread the word about my new venture amid the noise of the pandemic. I brought in a former colleague to assist with digital marketing, and they’re still with us today as a shareholder and director.
In your view, how has the recruitment industry evolved over the past decade, and where do you see it heading in the coming years?
5-10 years ago, retained search was regarded as a highly professional service only offered up by executive search firms. However, in the current market, retained has become a necessity in hiring the best candidates available in the market at any given time. If your top priority is hiring the best person for a role, you have a moral obligation to retained.
Selling retained search as a solution is easy to suggest, but still, why would the client go against the norm and commit when it is not standard in the industry?
At Retrained Search, we take inspiration from Simon Sinek. His ‘Start with Why’ Ted Talk is very inspirational, especially when he’s quoted saying, ‘people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.’
So, what is your reason why?
When you care about your relationship with your client and want to solve their problems, you can form a trusted advisor status with them and focus on achieving their long-term goals. Wanting to make a quick buck isn’t the aim. Pursuing relationships, not money, is the key to success and why there is a moral obligation to retained search.
Why do clients need retained search?
It’s usually the top layers of an organisation that are concerned about the long-term future of a business. Contingent is operational and transactional, which is typical of work at the lower end of a company hierarchy.
Retained search largely solves problems that are felt higher up in the organisation, so aligning yourself as a strategic problem solver with them naturally takes you up those layers of an organisation. Retained search projects will ultimately elevate your relationships with your clients.
Contingent recruitment is not sustainable for clients. The market has changed. In previous years, contingent recruitment was enough to find ideal candidates for a company but now only 30% of candidates are reached under the contingent model.
What’s next for Retrained Search? Are there any new services or developments on the horizon that you're excited to share?
Perhaps pushing the levelling up of our customers into Marketing and Search Mastery – we've created an army of brilliant, retained search recruiters who now need to focus on business growth, strategy, and process.
We recently launched a programme on digital marketing and automation specifically for recruiters wanting to win more retained work.
More info:
https://retrainedsearch.com/our-solutions/search-mastery/
https://retrainedsearch.com/our-solutions/retrained-marketing/
