Launching 3Search's Digital Transformation practice
Richard Longstreet
Founder at Tarka Talent - Strategy, Transformation, and Change Recruitment
Companies today are all rushing to make the most of, and transform themselves to be, ‘digital’. In what is one of today’s hottest sectors, there is huge competition between consultancies to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and also between companies to attract and retain the best digital talent.
Having spent the bulk of my career working with clients who are undergoing their own digital transformation, where do I believe the key to a digital transformation project’s success sits? Undeniably it starts with having the right people.
Both from the client’s and the consultancy’s perspective, having skilled staff in place is often the first step in the marathon that is a transformation programme. However, this isn’t always easy, especially in such a competitive marketplace.
This is a scenario where a skilled, experienced, and trustworthy recruitment consultancy can take the time to work with you, understand your needs, and guide you to exactly the right people. That’s just the practice I’m building at 3Search.
About me
My background is all about people skills — getting to know and understand people, get into a deeper discussion about their business needs, and helping them to fulfil their objectives.
After graduating from Durham University I joined Michael Page, helping develop their Professional Services Marketing & Business Development recruitment desk. After a successful year there, I left to explore the world of digital transformation at Capgemini Consulting. Having worked across a few different sectors at CC, being promoted early off the graduate scheme, and thoroughly enjoying my time there, I made the move back into recruitment, and joined 3Search to set up a digital transformation recruitment practice.
So, why have I moved back into recruitment when the more common move would be from consultancy into industry?
I believe that, in many ways, they are very similar sectors — both have the perk of working across a wide variety of projects and clients, exposure to the forefront of new digital initiatives and projects, and working with fun, ambitious, and focused colleagues. Both industries also put a focus on a fun, social, company culture. So far at 3Search we’ve had a company sports day in Green Park, weekly 5-a-side games (not my forte), and an afternoon trampolining (surprisingly more my forte).
A key difference is that, as a recruiter, I have greater ownership over what I’m doing and the projects I work on. I can spend more time honing my people skills (not that I didn’t enjoy the hours I spent designing and realigning PowerPoint decks as a Consultant...) and I get to enjoy working in the target driven environment that recruitment offers.
A partnership approach
The main difference that I have found working in recruitment this time around (as opposed to my first stint fresh out of uni) is the value of having experience in the industry I’m recruiting into. In my first months recruiting marketing roles my sole knowledge of the industry was having read ‘Marketing for Dummies’ the week before I started at Michael Page, you can imagine the conversations I had with my clients and candidates! (thank you for your patience, if you’re reading this)
Now, by contrast, I’m able to engage in meaningful conversation with clients, really understand their projects and their needs, and therefore work as a real partner in the hiring process. I’m already seeing the results from this partnership approach.
During my time at Capgemini, a lot of my work focused on project management, meaning I was at the heart of each project and had a solid overview of every aspect of our work for the customer. I got to clearly see what people and skills were required at each stage of the project.
There’s huge overlap, too, in the stakeholder and relationship management work I honed at Capgemini and the approach to recruitment we adopt here at 3Search. As a Consultant, you need to understand your client's needs fully, work with them to develop and define the solutions to their issues, and work with them in partnership through the journey. That also happens to be the precise approach I take to a recruitment assignment.
The benefits of working with 3Search
When you work with 3Search you’re not just another account among thousands — we’re deliberately boutique in our scale and our approach because we want to be able to devote the necessary time to your role.
As someone with real work experience in this sector, there’s much less likelihood of miscommunication. I speak the language of digital transformation, understand the requirements of a successful digital project, and appreciate the people most likely to succeed in a given role.
Working with 3Search, therefore, means you gain a recruitment partner, expert in the areas we recruit to, happy to work closely with you to understand your requirements and to consult at each and every stage of the process.