Hey Over Here!

So for the last seven years I have run & grown my own digital leadership search firm and I couldn’t be more proud. I often wish though that I could make more noise, not just for Princedale but for all start-up challenger consulting firm and this is why.

As with this morning when I met a new prospective client, we quickly get to the question of ‘why use you over the established firms?’

And this is what I say….

- We invest considerable time upfront with our clients to scope an accurate & compelling brief. We can do this as we're experts in hiring digital leaders for both growth & established clients. Invest the time upfront, save time over the long run.

- We focus on three areas of digital leadership: Commercial & General Management, Marketing & Customer and Product & Technology leaders. We don’t take on roles beyond our expertise so we have a killer success rate!

- I personally conduct the search and represent the opportunity and client myself, managing the assignment full spectrum. So I'm intrinsically involved in every aspect of the search from brief-taking, advising & calibrating, headhunting, interviewing, reference-taking, offer extension and candidate acceptance. The assignment is not divvied up like in most bigger firm (where the work almost always cascades down a layer or two from the client-facing partner).

- Then there’s this. If you want to be incredibly thorough in finding the strongest possible shortlist to appoint from with confidence, you need a head-hunter that does not work with loads of companies that you’d like to probably hire from (cue light bulb moment)....

Simply put, as a young challenger search firm we have fewer clients and so fewer restrictions, so we can access top talent where bigger firms can’t. And with such competition for digital & customer leadership, this should be a key factor when selecting a firm to work with. In fact, this is often where searches we’re asked to rescue have got stuck - the original search firm knows exactly the person for the job but can’t access him or her as they’re with one of their clients.

- We welcome fixing fees.

I want to get this message out there so please do share, like or clap (or whatever) if this resonates. And next time you’re considering which search firm to appoint (or any consulting business for that matter) I hope this is helpful. The big firms are not necessarily the safest choice, in fact they’re often far from it.

Rupert Jupp - Princedale Partners

Digital & Customer Leadership Head-hunters + Talent Advisers.