The Perfect Fit

Recruiting For That Data-Driven Art of Digital Marketing

The first quarter of this year is the busiest start to a year we’ve ever experienced!  We’re proud to have worked with a diverse Client base ranging from tiny start-ups to Fortune 100 iconic brands.  What’s struck me as most interesting is how the searches have almost all become focused on data driven digital media/online marketing skills and tactics.  Here are searches we’ve worked on or are still working, in the first quarter:           

            Design Director

            Dir. of Digital Advertising Operations

            Experiential Producer

            Graphic Designer

            Marketing Analyst

            Senior Client Success Manager

            Senior Creative Research Strategist

            Senior Digital Media Analyst/Campaign Manager

 

We’ve all known that “Big Data” and the targeting of specific customers, demographics or groups of prospective Clients, has been rapidly growing in use, effectiveness and efficiency.  This is the quarter when I’ve realized how truly ubiquitous digital and data are in customer or client outreach and engagement.  I’ve previously written about "FutureHire" and how digital skills were becoming a critical component of every search we’ve conducted for the past several years, but it seems to have hit a new level.

I’ve historically been as much a consultant as a recruiter to my Clients. My “target Client” is a small to medium sized, privately held company where support (or advice) is needed in marketing, advertising or digital media talent acquisition. In fact, a recent blog post, “Consultative Recruiting” (http://bit.ly/2yCQ6wf), speaks exactly to that.

Earlier this week I met with the CEO of a successful mid-sized agency that’s making acquisitions and expanding across the US.  He suggested that I start to specifically offer a “Consulting” practice to owners/principals of those small-medium sized Clients ($2M-$200M).  He believes that I deliver value during, open and honest communications with owners/principals.  He said “there aren’t many people we’re (CEOs and Owners) comfortable enough with to be truly honest in conversations.  Your communication style encourages that.” 

Bishop Partners provides “Recruiting and Consulting for Marketing, Advertising and Digital Media”.  We practice “Strategic Recruiting”.  We will quickly deliver skilled and experienced candidates for difficult positions at every level of your organization, up to and including succession planning for your most senior roles.  Please get in touch with me and let’s have a conversation about how I can help you identify, recruit and hire the premier talent that your organization needs. EOE

 

The Lines Between Consumer and Employment Branding Are Blurring

As the talent field has made the shift in its employer-brand focus from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have,” there’s another significant trend that’s reshaping the way high-performing companies are communicating their mission, culture, and career opportunities.  It’s called talent branding.

Your talent brand is the highly social, totally public version of your employer brand that incorporates what talent thinks, feels, and shares about your company as a place to work.  Think of talent branding as employer branding 2.0.

No longer owned solely by recruitment advertising agencies or even human resources, talent branding is moving into the spotlight and sharing the stage with other branding, advertising, and marketing players and tactics employed by the savviest chief marketing officers. And they are applying the same rigor to the talent-brand development process as they do with any other high-stakes marketing efforts.

And, depending on the title on your business card, you may consider that a blessing or a curse.  It wasn’t simpler in the past, just more segregated.

Back in the proverbial day, consumers went to stores and job seekers went to the classifieds or the job boards. But in a digital world everyone is everything and goes everywhere. We are bombarded by content and channels and swayed by predictive technology, and seemingly unlimited options.

Hiring Skilled Employees is Extremely Competitive

1st quarter 2019 hiring trends indicate a robust job market that is highly competitive for talent acquisition. Companies who actively market themselves to attract and engage talent will set themselves apart. Talented professionals are researching the reputation of companies and their teams to determine if it is a potential fit. Further, candidates are paying close attention to feedback on candidate experience prior to applying. According to KellyServices.com and Linkedin:

• 75% of candidates research about firm's reputation and Employer Brand before applying for a job

• 83% of employers say that Employer Brand plays a significant role in their ability to hire talent
• 69% of candidates would not accept a job in a firm with a bad reputation even if that means being unemployed
• 97% of candidates who had a positive experience would refer others to apply
• 90% of global professionals are interested in learning about new job opportunities even though only 36% is actively looking

The Bishop Partners' team is constantly proactively targeting the talent pool to engage dialogue and market opportunities. Our proven track record of success over almost 18 years, brings the best people to the table for our clients while streamlining the hiring process.​​​​​​​  Our goal for acceptance of an offer by a candidate is 45 days.

If you need help identifying, recruiting and hiring critical employees for your company, contact Bob at Bob@Bishop-Partners.com!

St. Louis Senior Event Producer #19024

Overview:
Our St. Louis Client wants you to lead your Clients to help build connections with their customers, by creating powerful brand experiences that are seamless, innovative, immersive and successful! From strategy, creative, and digital to logistics and event technology, you’ll lead teams that place the Client at the center, helping them connect to people in meaningful and personal ways. As a Sr. Producer, you’ll be responsible for the largest projects for the premier Clients.

Principal Responsibilities:
• Partner with the Client to analyze and identify event goals and the event concepts and strategies to meet those goals.
• Identify, manage and report on budgets, timelines and all other logistics related to the production of the show. Write and deliver proposals, contracts, presentations and reports to Clients, as needed.
• Identify, hire and manage third party vendors and contractors, from the venue, to technology, environmental design, entertainment, catering and support staff.
• Monitor and create timely status updates to all applicable teams, regarding project progress against the proposed plans including budgets, timelines, quality criteria and risk management.
• You will participate in the show set-up, run and load out, which often happens at unusual times or on weekends.
• There is moderate travel, as necessary.

Urgent Need: Associate Creative Director for Our STL Client!

Our St. Louis Client has just contacted Bishop Partners for help with their urgent need for an Associate Creative Director.  Here's the job description.  Please contact Bob asap, telling him of your interest and sending a portfolio.  Thank you!

Job Number: 19013
Associate Creative Director

General Description:
We’re working with our St. Louis Client to recruit an in-house Associate Creative Director with the experience and talent to produce engaging visual communications for both internal and external audiences. Strategy, innovative thinking and compelling creative are the foundation. The ACD is proficient in the concept, design and execution of a diverse range of communications materials, including print and digital collateral, video, internal and external communications materials, meeting presentations and experiential.

You should be a well-rounded art director/designer who thrives on contributing ideas, utilizing your earned knowledge of the most current industry standards and trends. You possess exemplary presentation skills to share concepts and final executions with internal clients at all levels. The ideal candidate also has the ability to comprehend diverse and complex ideas and translate them into simple, clear and cogent visual communications.

Primary Responsibilities:
Develop innovative concepts, create compelling design solutions and follow through to final delivery on a wide variety of B2B and B2C marketing projects
Work with Creative Directors and Copywriters to create attention-getting work for consumer lead generation, retention, and engagement initiatives
Provide graphic design support to field force effectiveness initiatives, including; sales collateral design, presentation design and design of internal training materials
Collaborate effectively with internal marketing managers, strategic planners, and product owners/managers from across the organization.

Having Trouble Hiring Experienced Leaders? Use Strategic Recruiting

If you’re having trouble hiring experienced leaders (at any level), recruiters can help. Employer’s Executive; Do I need a recruiter? How do I find one? There must be differences in recruiters, I’m not sure what they are.

There are lots and lots of recruiters out there. Large firms, “boutiques”, contingency, staffing, contract or part time, retained . . . Who’d be the best recruiter for your firm? What makes one recruiter better than another? How can a recruiter do a better job than my company’s existing talent acquisition team? Do recruiters really add any value?   The common perceptions are; recruiters are expensive, they don’t always succeed, the candidates don’t stick around very long . . . Again, “Who’d be best the best recruiter to work with your firm?”

There are some recruiters who are truly partners with their Clients and are considered to be a valuable “strategic asset”. What makes one recruiter more valuable and “strategic” than another? A truly strategic recruiter adds much more value to the Client than a tactical one. Recruiting strategy is more than filling “open roles”, it’s about contributing to the long-term growth of the client.

First and most importantly, strategic recruiting is about consistent success with the recruiting/hiring process; frequent, predictable success, year over year. Does the recruiter consistently succeed in introducing superior candidates that a Client is (actually) excited to hire? Second, does that candidate consistently perform beyond expectations and earn promotions to increasing responsibility over time? Third, does that candidate stay with the Client for more than a year or two? Does the recruiter become a trusted advisor and partner with access to the Executive Leadership Team? Does that Client continue to use that recruiter for ongoing needs?

New STL Search: Senior Creative Researcher/Strategist

Overview:
Our St. Louis client is seeking a Senior Creative Research Strategist to help take a unique, well established and growing Marketing Research Agency to the next level. Candidates should have at least eight years of strategic advertising experience in either agency Creative or Account Planning (the ideal candidate would have both) or with a research agency specializing in research for marketing or advertising.

Creative Research Strategists are the achievers of insight and facilitators of alignment. Creatively-trained problem solvers,  strategic writers, creative thinkers.  Creative Strategists are responsible for research design, execution, analysis and deliverables for all projects. They develop and optimize research processes, identify and curate research tools and always seek ways to enhance offerings. With both Clients and Respondents, Creative Strategists approach every element of their work with empathy and energy.
Strategists should be capable of accountability for decisions related to design, execution analysis and deliverables on their projects.

All candidates should be willing and able to travel (up to 33% at times, including international travel); be self-motivators that need little supervision and who can handle the demands of the workflow.

Who is the Client?
Our Client is a St. Louis based marketing research agency, founded in 1998 which has evolved to have only large, loyal global clients. They are comprised of (among other roles) creative strategists – people with advertising agency creative, planning and/or research backgrounds, as well as senior level client-side marketing experience, who specialize in:

Recruitment Strategies For Employee Retention

Recruitment strategies for employee retention became an important part of a conversation during a recent lunch, with a Partner/President of a new Client prospect. We had an engaging conversation about each of our businesses and what we each thought was the secret of our success. I appreciate a company principal  who’s willing to open up and have a candid conversation about what’s going well and of course, what’s not. That’s the basis of a strong, successful working relationship!

Later, I sent a note to thank this person for their time and to let them know how much I appreciated hearing what’s going on in their business. I was surprised and thrilled, when I received the response, “I really appreciate your thoughtful approach and desire to match agencies and people for the long-term—that’s not something other people in your industry are talking about.”

I was shocked to hear that, because I assumed that every recruiter would talk about how long their candidates stayed with their clients. I’ve always considered retention to be one of the most critical metrics to measure how well a recruiter performs. I know that my Clients agree with that!

Executive Search is an expensive proposition. The best ways to judge a recruiter’s value is by a) Do they consistently succeed with the search and b) How long do those candidates stay with that Company? Are they consistently promoted into more responsible or productive positions? If the recruiter consistently

Now Hiring, STL Client; Design Director, In-House Creative Leader

We're happy to have once again been hired by one of our regions premier brands for this in-house Design leadership opportunity.  They are feeling a sense of urgency and are interested in interviewing candidates as soon as possible.

General Description:
The key objective of this role is to ensure continuing design excellence – strategic and operational - in brand development across a growing portfolio. This means planning organizing and implementing consistent design principles and production processes to ensure that designs meet all brand consumer and production guardrails and objectives, both internally and externally.  

We’re looking for an experienced design leader to grow our team, while also continuing to be an individual contributor. Be responsible for consistent brand development strategy across diverse, yet “synergistic” elements. You’ll be able to build both great products and a great team.

As Design Director, you’ll provide mentorship and support to the other designers and project team members in your office with one-on-ones and reviews. You’ll also be responsible for presentation of design strategies and resulting executions to internal and external stakeholders, as needed.

Responsibilities will Include:
• Develop innovative concepts, create compelling design solutions and follow through to final delivery, on a wide variety of B2B and B2C marketing projects
• Collaborate with business partners, other directors, designers, copywriters, editors and developers to create unique, compelling, break-through work

Consultative Recruiting Expertise Adds Value

Consultative recruiting expertise adds value when an experienced recruiter meets with a company’s CEO, President, COO or other executive leader, to discuss how that company can accelerate growth. Consultative recruiting is essential for succession planning searches, or confidential searches or any search where a company needs a strategic leader, much more than a “worker”. Are you thinking about creating an “in-house creative capability”, for the first time?

Consultative recruiting is the difference when it comes to making strategic hires that have significant and long term impact on a business. Consultative recruiting is very different from “filling a job opening”, where one simply lines up a Company’s specific needs with a Candidate’s specific skills and experience. The time spent is directly proportionate to the value added.

This is a far cry from posting a job to ZipRecruiter, Indeed or some other niche job board and “hoping for the best”. Recruiters used to call that “Post and Pray”! The premier candidates never even look at job boards. If you try it a couple of times, it’s immediately crystal clear how inefficient it is. You’re lucky if even 15% of respondents are even remotely qualified for the role. Full employment makes hiring even more difficult!

Consultative Recruiting makes all the difference between hiring a “worker” and a committed, caring and ambitious contributor/leader. The worker simply works, the leader contributes and then influences their colleagues to contribute too. They search out additional ways to contribute. Working is easy, leading and consistently truly contributing is not. (Boutique or Specialty Firms have additional value!)