The Dent Consultancy worked with financial recruitment company Executive Connections (later to become ECHM) for nearly ten years, providing branding and marketing expertise that was a crucial factor in growing an organisation with 15 employees and a turnover of £1.5m to a high profile company with 6 offices (2 abroad) and a turnover of £20m, which was sold to Imprint for £14m.
Our input included all internal and external communication (branding, corporate identity, advertising, PR, website, digital marketing, presentations, partnerships, etc.), but this story will focus on one specific initiative, designed to get clients and candidates to contact a recruitment company of their own volition, independently of needing to fill a role or get a job.
The recruitment industry is often viewed with a degree of cynicism, linked to the very strong sales culture of many recruitment companies. We saw an opportunity to differentiate Executive Connections from other financial recruitment companies, by freely offering expertise and insight of real value to clients and candidates.
This led us to create a pair of publications: No Weak Links and No Silver Medals.
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No Weak Links was a blueprint for clients on best recruitment practice, with particular focus on what makes the best candidates choose one employer over another |  |
No Silver Medals was a career development guide for job seekers, offering detailed advice on what clients are looking for at each stage of the recruitment process |
No Silver Medals was a career development guide for job seekers, offering detailed advice on what clients are looking for at each stage of the recruitment process.No Weak Links was a blueprint for clients on best recruitment practice, with particular focus on what makes the best candidates choose one employer over another.
The two publications impressed the media, receiving comment in the FT and a number of other national publications, as well as being serialised in Accountancy and Management Accounting.
The publicity led to over 17,000 requests from candidates for No Silver Medals and to blue chip clients such as PwC distributing copies of No Weak Links to every member of the organisation involved in recruitment. It also encouraged candidates to ask for a copy of No Weak Links, to better understand the recruitment process from the client’s perspective and clients to ask for a copy of No Silver Medals to better understand the candidate’s viewpoint.
This marketing initiative also led to a nomination at the REC Industry Awards for Best Recruitment Marketing Campaign.