{"id":15319,"date":"2018-01-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/identifi-global.eu.applyflow.com\/case-study-from-candidate-to-client-neil-cook-head-of-it-at-autoglass\/"},"modified":"2022-12-09T06:17:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T06:17:15","slug":"case-study-from-candidate-to-client-neil-cook-head-of-it-at-autoglass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/news\/case-study-from-candidate-to-client-neil-cook-head-of-it-at-autoglass\/","title":{"rendered":"Case study: From candidate to client \u2013 Neil Cook, Head of IT at Autoglass\u00ae"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tidentifi helped match Neil with his role of Head of IT at Autoglass\u00ae  \u2013 in early 2017.<\/div>\n
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\n\tNeil\u2019s recruitment experience with identifi was more personable, reassuring and collaborative than with the other recruiters he\u2019d worked with previously. So it was only natural that when he was ready to recruit for his new team, he came back to us \u2013 just 12 weeks after joining Autoglass\u00ae  in his new role.<\/div>\n
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\n\tNeil the candidate<\/h2>\n
\n\tNeil\u2019s decision to consider a role at Autoglass\u00ae  was speculative. \u201cI was in a stable, good job with a large corporate, heading up the development for their core booking systems and customer portal website,\u201d says Neil. \u201cGary\u2019s call came out of the blue \u2013 I wasn\u2019t proactively looking for work but I was happy to talk about the role. I remember having spoken to him two years before about another role. He impressed me at the time so I was keen to hear more about the opportunity.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tThe decision to contact Neil was a carefully considered one. identifi had already invested time to understand his career aims in detail, ready to match him to the right role when it came up. In the event, finding the right position took two years. \u201cI knew Gary wouldn\u2019t waste my time when an opportunity came up\u201d says Neil. \u201cI\u2019d talked to him previously about wanting to spend fewer hours commuting and more time being challenged. He\u2019d therefore found a suitable leadership position based two minutes from my house \u2013 a perfect fit.<\/div>\n
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\n\t\u201cGary was able to make a confident, detailed recommendation, showing me exactly how I was a very good fit for the profile he was looking for.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tNeil trusted identifi\u2019s judgement in applying for the job. Partly, this was down to the personal rapport he\u2019d built with Gary over the previous two years. \u201cOur first conversation, back in 2014, had been a very personal call to to start with. That\u2019s one of Gary\u2019s key strengths: he spends time building a relationship before getting to the business side of things, which works very well.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\t“I’ve worked with plenty of recruitment consultants that get even these basic things wrong.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\n\tNeil had our full support throughout the interview process; care which continued after he\u2019d started his new role as Head of IT. \u201cGary gave a good account of what was likely to happen during the interview process and recommended research material. He was available throughout as a sounding board for my application, reviewing presentations I\u2019d prepared and giving insightful feedback wherever necessary. This type of support should be expected \u2013 but I’ve worked with plenty of recruitment consultants that get even these basic things wrong.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tOur longstanding relationship with Autoglass\u00ae  \u2013 having successfully placed candidates at all levels of the business \u2013 meant we could offer Neil a developed understanding of candidate-company fit and the culture of the business. Neil started his role as Head of IT a few short months after being contacted about the role.<\/div>\n
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\n\tNeil the client<\/h2>\n
\n\tHaving secured the role at Autoglass\u00ae , Neil settled in swiftly and within three months, he was back at identifi, this time as a client looking to grow a talented IT team. When it came to recruiting new staff, Neil knew he wanted candidates to receive the same support identifi had offered him, in finding his role.<\/div>\n
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\n\t\u201cWhen I started the new role, I was asked to put together a plan for the structure of the department and what we would need for the future. I pinpointed a few new roles and other areas that needed bolstering. Having had such a good experience with identifi, the company was a natural first port call to help me fill the positions.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tAs previously, Gary invested time to understand exactly what Neil needed from his new team members \u2013 looking well beyond CV details to uncover the soft skills that would make candidates an ideal fit.<\/div>\n
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\n\t“He still came back to check his understanding, giving me the confidence that he knew exactly what we were looking for.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\n\t\u201cHaving sent the brief for the new roles, Gary reviewed the job briefs and came back with some questions about people mix and profiling. He already knew the organisation and the strong can-do culture we have, which requires people who are enthusiastic and focused on solving problems with real care. However, he still came back to check his understanding, giving me the confidence that he knew exactly what we were looking for.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tThe recruitment process was highly collaborative. And the fact that identifi carefully filtered the candidates put forward meant Neil could spent less time sifting, and more time making key hiring decisions. Other recruiters had made this impossible for Neil.<\/div>\n
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\n\t\u201cWhen Gary started to send me CVs, they were all good matches, which was great \u2013 and in my experience, unusual. In the past, agencies have sent me a lot of very plainly speculative CVs from people who appeared to be applying for anything and everything, ignoring the job brief or criteria. There isn\u2019t ever time for that.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tidentifi was able to fill all four of Neil\u2019s vacancies in five months, with permanent members of staff who have proved an exact fit for the organisation.<\/div>\n
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\n\tCollaboration at work<\/h2>\n
\n\tThroughout, identifi\u2019s spirit of close collaboration made Neil\u2019s recruitment experience smooth, efficient and as stress-free as possible \u2013 both as a candidate and a client. And the collaboration hasn\u2019t ended yet. \u201cGary checks in with me often to see how things are going, and is always happy to keep in touch,\u201d says Neil, \u201cwhich is great.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tCollaboration and honest conversation is what all recruiters should focus on, says Neil. \u201cI\u2019ve been involved in recruiting for very large brands and worked with a lot of agencies. The thing that stands out \u2013 and always works for me \u2013 is a non-pushy personable approach. The hunger in some recruiters makes you feel like you\u2019re just being processed.<\/div>\n
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\n\t\u201cOften it doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re dealing with people \u2013 instead, just dealing with commodities and assets. identifi don\u2019t feel transactional. Instead, they offer a caring and consultative approach to recruitment. That\u2019s a very positive difference.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\n\tThanks go to Neil for answering our questions. If you\u2019re ready to experience true candidate-focused recruitment, start your job search here<\/a> – or get in touch for a consultation<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  identifi helped match Neil with his role of Head of IT at Autoglass\u00ae  \u2013 in early 2017.   Neil\u2019s recruitment experience with identifi was more personable, reassuring and collaborative than with the other recruiters he\u2019d worked with previously. So it was only natural that when he was ready to recruit for his new team,… Read More »Case study: From candidate to client \u2013 Neil Cook, Head of IT at Autoglass\u00ae<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-management"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/14428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.identifiglobal.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}