”If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation”.

In a world of online applications and ”smoke and mirrors” offer negotiations, I’m not going to lie, if I’m tearing my hair out I can only imagine what you’re experiencing!

It’s beyond tricky and involves breaking down a few barriers to help make the recruitment process a delight rather than pulling teeth. Last week I spoke to a new client which roughly went as follows:-

Me: ”Can you tell me about your team - shape, structure, size?”

Client - ” I can’t really discuss the details, it’s confidential. But we really need a Senior Manager and a Director to help drive the growth- we’ve lost a few people”.

Me: ”OK, we can go back to this in a second. What are your typical salary ranges for Directors so we can discuss market rates and the alignment of the shortlist”.

Client- ”We can’t reveal our salary ranges for confidentiality reasons. BUT we will need full current compensation of the candidates you send and then we can make a decision on whether they fit within our ranges...”

(OKAAAAAY What about their confidentiality?!)

Me: ”The Director I’m representing is currently well supported in their existing team but for personal reasons, they’re excited about an international move at this stage in their career development. They’re capable of building a team but knowing what’s there will help them understand what’s required of them in the medium term as well as crystalising their own Partnership prospects”.

Client ”Ok, I can say that there’s a handful of Managers and then we have the juniors. There’s a few of those”.

You get the picture. Having an open and honest discussion about your team, the remuneration bandings and career prospects with a good recruiter will reap so many rewards. We can make you agile in the market as opposed to it all feeling a bit stodgy and slow. As important as confidentiality is to you as a client, senior candidates loathe sharing their CV until they have the full picture from a trusted recruiter.

On a positive note, once the barrier from my client had dropped, key information was then shared and it created a huge amount of space to move forward.

My answer to clients who tell me their worries about confidentiality is to avoid working with the recruiters who aren’t discrete and consider just working with one!

If your current approach isn’t working and confidentiality is important to you, please meet our team. We’ve worked on an unprecedented number of mandates this year on an exclusive basis due to clients wanting someone to grab the reins, ”change the conversation” and breathe life into a very tired mandate.

Aaron Leslie ([email protected] ) is the other co-owner of TPI search, used to be a Big 4 transfer pricing professional and has lived in a number of countries over the years. I would say his specialist skills are complex salary negotiations and a dogged approach to finding the best opportunity available in the market for you.

Rebecca Nash ([email protected] ) has the perfect combination of genuinely caring about the outcomes for her clients. She is a great listener and works tirelessly to fill a mandate. She is the person you want on your team when all the other recruiters have dropped off the radar because they’ve got bored!

Jim Huber ([email protected] ) is our Partner for the North American practice and his attention to detail is second to none. Having worked in both leading Big 4 firms and global MNC’s, he’s uniquely placed to work with clients wanting a fresh approach to their hiring problems.

With the summer approaching, May, June and perhaps the first 10 days in July is the best timeframe to ensure you have your new hire(s) in place before September. If you’d like to know more about what we do and how we do it, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]