Building digital competencies- 8 practical steps
Recruiting is a central task for every company. The term refers to the search and placement of qualified workers so that a company can grow and prosper. At Search & Co. we specialize in building digital skills and capabilities and divide the efforts behind it into two areas:
Recruit externally
This area of work includes traditional recruiting, which is all about networking, relationships, trust and insider knowledge. Thanks to our many years of experience in digitization, we have a large international network in the digital industry. We use this to find talents which fit your company’s requirements in terms of expertise and culture. As a rule, we do not advertise positions. Instead, we recruit very personally and specifically by means of direct contact (active sourcing).
Enable & empower internally
Our unique selling point is empowering internal employees. This strategy is ideal if a company already has a high level of digital maturity. We determine the maturity level with our specially developed maturity analysis. This makes it possible to measure individual strengths and potential at the levels of employees, culture, technology, customer experience, leadership and strategy. We accompany companies as mentors in developing their internal digital talents in such a way that they acquire the skills and competencies you need. Search & Co. offers this special benefit because the two founders and managing directors, Markus Dobbelfeld and Frederik Thomas, each have 20+ years of experience in building digital competencies and have recruited entire digital units themselves. They understand the digital market. As long-serving digital leaders, former C-level executives, and visionary drivers, they are up to speed on the topic of "digital transformation". How do we go about recruiting externally and, most importantly, what makes us different in our approach? Today, we reveal our bulletproof process.
Successful Recruiting: Our 8 practical steps
1. Briefing and definition
Our approach is to first start with organizational consulting and only then advise on the definition of the actual digital profiles. This approach is essential. Based on our broad experience in digitization and digital transformation, we know that Digital Profiles are often not an ideal fit and need to be reworked and redefined. Together with you, we determine the search strategy and project setup and define the professional and personal requirements for the candidate. Then the requirements profile with job description is developed.
2. Market screening
Over decades we have built up an extensive international network in and outside Switzerland. We use our personal contacts to become active and contact potential candidates directly. With our 'Digital Veterans Community' we maintain regular exchanges among digital leaders on a European level and also rely on internal recommendations from our well-maintained network.
3. Approach & longlist
We maintain an up-to-date, well-maintained and qualified longlist of potential candidates. The digital leaders on our longlists always match the required profile, have already expressed a motivation to switch jobs and work for the company referred, fit the salary bands and availability requirements. They are already carefully hand-picked so that every single longlist candidate has our hiring recommendation. In concrete terms, this means that all the talents on the longlist can fulfill the desired function, are within the salary range and have expressed a motivation to change. In this way, we ensure extremely high quality through detailed and careful pre-qualification of the candidates. About the process: As an HR consulting company specializing in digitization, all our processes are naturally kept 'digital', which is why we do not send CVs by mail, for example. Via our client portal, our clients always receive an up-to-date overview of the status of the respective recruitment process.
4. 1st round interviews
Since the beginning, we have routinely conducted these interviews remotely and via video conference. Many companies have only used this practice since the pandemic. We have long professionalized the process and use an online scheduling software.
5. Interviews 2nd round
We use our digital assessment suite to assess the candidates and see their digital potential and their corresponding skills. We have developed our own software for this purpose and thus have a unique selling point. We then write multiple pages with our assessments and corresponding recommendations for the respective candidate.
6. Case studies & cases
We create case studies based on the client's business challenges. Mostly these are five questions, which have to be answered by the candidates with only a short lead time and presented to the customer. We create and evaluate the content, the approach, as well as the presentation quality with a final report.
7. References & proof of performance
If requested, we provide references of the candidate to the client. More meaningful, however, is that we validate performance evidence (e.g. KPIs, conversion rates, etc.) and further check portfolios for content and quality. Our many years of digital expertise enable us to do this assessment accordingly.
8. Decision & conclusion
Together with our customers (line & HR) we are always present at all interview stages. Depending on the requirements, we act in the foreground or in the background as well as in different roles, e.g. as a challenger. Our clients place a lot of value on our 'Digital Talent Advisory' function as well as our assessments. This 8-step process has not only proven itself in 20+ years of practical digital experience, but has also convinced our clients (including Sonova, Geberit, Oswald, ZFV). Is your company also in the digital transformation, but does not yet have the necessary digital competencies? Then get in touch with us. We will be happy to support you in finding or enabling the right digital talents.
