Actual Resourcing in the quality press - Dec 08

One of our clients, Chameleon Net, were recently interviewed by a journalist about unusual ways that they'd make substantial changes in running their business.

Here's the extract from the FT article published on 13th December 2008:

"Vicky Reeves, managing director of Chameleon Net, a web solutions agency, hit upon the idea of using the company's external marketing agency to help with the recruitment of new staff. "The arrangement made perfect sense," Reeves says. Chameleon had been working for several years with its agency, Actual Marketing, so the agency knew enough about the business to write accurate job descriptions, Reeves notes. "Their telemarketing and copywriting skills lend themselves perfectly to interviewing and job advertising," she explains.  The fact that most job searches can be done over the internet has also made headhunting less of a specialist activity, Reeves adds.  

Reeves struck a deal to pay Actual the same hourly rate it was charging for marketing to provide a list of suitable candidates for interview. Finding someone on £30,000 a year costs £1,500 with Actual, compared with as much as £6,000 through a recruiter. Actual filters the applicants against agreed criteria, conducts telephone interviews with appropriate applicants and sends Chameleon the best candidates for face-to-face interviews. "The best bit is the value for money as we don't have to pay any kind of commission when we find an ideal candidate," Reeves says.

She has now recruited more than 20 members for her business through the arrangement, saving thousands of pounds in fees. Actual has also benefited because it has created a service that it sells to other clients.