CASE STUDY: Confidential search - IT Director

Case Study - Confidential search: IT Director

Traditionally around 40% of vacancies brought to us by clients are private and confidential. 

Post-pandemic, this number has risen as companies look to recruit the best talent on the market.

Exactly as the name suggests, a confidential search is a recruitment process conducted on behalf of a client, usually for a senior role, in which key elements of the company and vacancy must remain confidential during the recruitment process for a variety of reasons. These could include, internal restructure, planned growth, succession planning or the simple desire of not letting competitors know the company’s upcoming and future strategies.

Objective

The primary aim of a confidential search is to find a selection of I.T. Directors, “Heads of” …etc, with a background in the retail sector without giving away sensitive information about the client.

Challenges

• Advertising wasn’t a possibility due to the required level of confidentiality.
• The client was also unsure of salary brackets and what they might be able to get for ‘their money’ so a broad selection was required.
• It was necessary to find candidates with an understanding of I.T. needs within retail and ecommerce sector to assist the business develop to the next level.
• Full disclosure of information on the role and company could only be given to engaged candidates once non-disclosure agreements were being signed.   

Execution

• Using our database, job boards and LinkedIn, candidates were proactively and carefully sourced with the required skills set and within a wide salary bracket.
• Candidates were screened and engaged without giving away sensitive information and profiles/limited CVs were shared with the client.
• A preliminary 15 profiles were presented to the client.
• Once feedbacks on those candidates were delivered (15 profiles and 3 of interest), we were able to ascertain which skill sets were most appealing and subsequently submitted another round of candidates were 3 out of 5 were invited to interview stages. 
• After successful preselection stages, candidates who signed NDAs were then fully briefed on the position and taken through the 3-stage interview process.