At Lightning we're all about transparency and showing the how and why behind our unique consultancy approach. Unfortunately recruiters have a bad name, whether it be from personal past experiences or general misconceptions, we're up there with traffic wardens and estate agents. I don't class myself as a recruiter, having not come from the traditional recruitment background and having worked for years in luxury travel. 

I thought it would be interesting for candidates and clients alike to see a brief overview of how we do things in the form of a case study and why it's worth the £££ to use a recruiter, especially right now. 

So i'll be writing about our recent hire for a Villa Company for a Business Development role.....which wasn't called this to start with.

The background: The client came to us initially asking for advice about bringing on a rep, or looking at a full time hire to hit the high end agencies with their more exclusive products. I talked through with the MD the pros and cons of both and the types of candidates in the marketplace and budgets we'd be looking at. After a couple of weeks i'd written a job spec for them and met the hiring manager to understand their business more. We decided on the job title and salary and set aside 5 days to get a shortlist together.

The process: I'd pre vetted a few candidates already on our database already for the role and also began headhunting and getting recommendations from my network for the role. Every single strong candidate was video interviewed by me personally before narrowing it down to a longlist. Usually we'll submit 3-5 candidates for clients as a shortlist, but the list turned out to be so strong i ended up submitting 10 via our technology based software where the client is sent one single link to all fully vetted candidates with their cv's and my notes....i.e no searching your inbox for tons of cv's.

The vetting: I then had an hours call with the hiring manager where we cut the shortlist down to our top 4 (it was like x factor bootcamp) and i arranged Zoom interviews for them. After round 1 all candidates progressed to the final stage with the MD. I then again scheduled the interviews for them and maintained contact with all candidates, having an active overview of any niggles that might arise and any other job interviews processes they were in. 

The outcome: We offered a candidate who accepted straight away and is now a key team member in the company. From the first call to offer the process took 2 weeks.

We only work exclusively, meaning we can devote 100% of our time to clients and form a long standing relationship, meaning for future hires we know the ins and outs of the company and the types of staff they like. 

We're super proud to be the top rated recruiter on Google and you can check out our reviews here. We'd love to hear from you, and if you'd like to meet in person you can come and grab a coffee in our fabulous offices in Shoreditch!