Our 5 Year Vision - Part 4: Create a strong partnership with Attuned and build better teams.
Recruitment is broken. We’re on a mission to fix it.
However, we can’t do it without our candidates, clients, employees, investors or business partners. And since we are all about transparency, we decided to share our 5 year vision in a blog series with you.
Let’s fix recruitment together.
Our vision is centered around these 5 points and over the next several weeks different members of our leadership team will focus on each point individually.
Growth happens through a network of remote but connected recruiters.
Create a strong partnership with Attuned and build better teams.
In part 4 Chad Lafferty, Board Director and VP of Global Sales at our partner business Attuned, talks about the partnership between Wahl+Case and Attuned and how it benefits our candidates and clients.
All different… but exactly the same
Chad Lafferty, Board Director & VP of Global Sales at Attuned
I remember a few years ago I was at a gathering of senior recruiters and several founders of recruitment businesses here in Japan. At one point, one of the few non-recruiters in the discussion pointed out that every recruitment company says they are different, but none really are.
Here’s a selection of things that recruiters say make them unique, but really don’t:
We work in teams!
We have a big/bigger/biggest database of candidates!
We specialize in (insert any industry here)!
We focus on building long term relationships!
Hearing someone point this out, and seeing the rest of the room react with laughter and smirks, was pretty awful. I’ve always been a little contrary as a person - tell me to go left, and I might just explore what’s to the right. And here I was, in the middle of the herd, and what was I really doing about it?
Recruitment doesn’t often reward innovation
How much has recruitment changed in the past 20, 30, or 40 years? Not much, really. Companies interview in roughly the same way, and while everything has gotten a little smarter and more technologically advanced, the relationship between customers and recruiters is still largely the same.
Find candidates/jobs -> send CVs -> arrange interviews.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Meanwhile, how effective is the interview process really? How confident are you that your next hire or job will be the one you really want? What information are you getting - aside from the CV or job description, and (hopefully) some meaningful insights from your recruiter.
Is that enough?
We Can Do Better
In October of this year, I did the contrary thing I often do, going right instead of left. On the left path was the continued success of Wahl+Case. I had, as our CEO pointed out to me, the best job in recruitment. Being Managing Director for Wahl+Case is just fun. There are ups and downs, stressful days (or weeks, or months), but damned if I don’t enjoy it. We’re trying to build something meaningful for our customers and ourselves, and we’re trying to do it the right way. The left path was the easy one - the one I completely understood.
So I went right.
Our sister business, Attuned, has been growing, but there are massive opportunities for global expansion. And that presents a chance to do something that changes the game.
With Attuned, Wahl+Case can truly differentiate. We can say something that no other recruitment company can. Not that we created our own tech product, but that we fundamentally changed what an interview can be.
What is Attuned?
Attuned makes the unseen seen. Have you ever worked with someone that seemed to have no clue how to motivate you? Have you ever been stuck, unsure how to motivate yourself? Have you, as a manager, ever wondered - what do I need to do to get through to this person?
Of course you have. We all have.
Attuned Intrinsic Motivator Report
With Attuned, you can see your own intrinsic motivators and start to understand what makes you tick. Not behavior, not personality - but the actual underlying values that drive those things.
Some of it, people can probably guess. I’m pretty obviously a competitive person. After that though, I doubt people could guess my top 5. And they almost certainly couldn’t guess my bottom 5.
Incidentally, competition + security is probably what makes me zig when anyone in their right mind would zag.
Imagine How This Changes Job Interviews
As a candidate
If you know what your core intrinsic motivators are (and aren’t), you’ll be able to ask much better questions.
High autonomy or feedback? You’d better check during the interview how those things are addressed within the new role.
Progress is a need to have? Better check in on career paths and how often reviews are held. What kind of training/programs are provided to those that are motivated to learn more, outside of work hours?
As a hiring manager
Attuned Culture Map
Would someone with a high need for competition be easy for you to manage? Would they fit into the team you have now? You can see the whole picture with Attuned.
Also, what elements would a person add to your team? Would it be good to have someone with a need to innovate, to help create new ideas and directions for your team? Not with a focus on finding a (nonexistent) perfect match, but to understand each other better and have conversations about the things that matter at the start of the relationship, rather than months or years in.
By creating a more transparent interview process, with shared intrinsic motivators between candidates and their future teams, you’re giving candidates a real window into the culture of your company.
Not Just Hiring Though
Attuned is also out to improve retention, productivity, and psychological safety within organizations. Which brings us back to the overall goal of EQIQ, parent company to both Attuned and Wahl+Case.
To make work more meaningful.
As recruiters, Wahl+Case has the chance to help our clients hire smarter and to make work more meaningful for their employees. We can help candidates ask better questions in interviews, rather than just guessing about what might be important. We can help clients check crucial points like culture fit and culture add.
And while I don’t think we’re reinventing the job interview, we’re doing as much as we can to reinvent the experience for our customers.
Get your free motivator report here, or contact me at chad.lafferty@attuned.ai for more info.
