Date: April 4, 2025

Maintaining High-touch Customer Service and Candidate Engagement

Background

The client is a leading producer of premium entertainment content and a multinational media and entertainment conglomerate. Despite our relatively new relationship with them we have successfully made placements to support the commercial, engineering and creative departments of the client’s subsidiaries. Despite challenges like hiring freezes and industry strikes, we’ve stayed proactive, adapting our approach to keep both client and candidate relationships strong. While we’re not a niche creative agency, our consistent delivery and responsiveness are steadily building our reputation as a trusted provider of creative talent.

Challenges

• Long Hiring Cycles: Once an applicant makes it to the interview stage, they are often required to take two or three interviews, with some units requiring up to five rounds. This process can stretch out over many months.
• Ongoing M&A: There were Mergers & Acquisitions happening as we were brought on and they have continued happening since. With each merger, a host of incumbent suppliers are brought on making the playing field very competitive making it harder for each supplier to stay relevant. Furthermore, with each M&A, the stakeholders involved change necessitating nurturing new relationships.
• Writer & Industry Strikes: Keeping the recruiting team motivated even as the number of requisitions reduced to a trickle.
• Sourcing Creative Talent: Creative requisitions include writers and designers. Though requisitions are made available to all the suppliers, niche creative staffing agencies have an edge. The difficulty of breaking into this space has been further compounded by the fact that there is no manager contact throughout the hiring process so getting feedback becomes tougher.
• Due Process: Certain roles involve multiple assessment steps, such as timed projects or tests hosted on external platforms. Candidates may be given up to 24 hours to complete these tasks. While these evaluations help ensure quality hires, they also extend the hiring timeline. Throughout this process, it’s essential to keep both the client and the candidate informed and engaged to maintain momentum and interest on both sides.

Approach:

• Innovative Sourcing for Creative Roles: Filling creative roles pushed the account management team to move beyond traditional sourcing methods. Unlike other professionals, writers and designers often showcase their work on personal websites or digital portfolios, making platforms like job boards and LinkedIn less effective for finding top talent.
  Creative hiring also demands specificity. For example, a recent role for a Commerce Writer required someone with proven editorial experience covering major consumer brands, a strong track record in tracking daily deals, and a deep understanding of consumer buying behavior.
  To find the right fit, the Account Manager had to review writing samples and evaluate portfolios judging both the quality of work and its relevance to the role. This hands-on approach ensured the candidates presented were aligned with the client’s unique content needs.
• High-touch Account Management: To ensure candidates remained engaged through the long hiring cycles, the account manager mandated more touchpoints with the candidates and MSP contact than usually required.
• Keeping the delivery team engaged and motivated: During lean requisition cycles, the Account Manager kept the delivery team motivated by turning downtime into development time. They guided the team in building industry knowledge in a vertical that was relatively new to us and helped sharpen sourcing skills for unfamiliar roles. This proactive approach not only maintained engagement but also strengthened our overall capability to respond to future demand.
• Quick turnaround time: High addressal and submission rate has ensured that despite a large supplier base, we have remained competitive.

Results:

Although this industry was new to us, we consistently delivered strong results. By responding to 100% of requisitions, submitting the maximum number of candidates allowed per role (typically 2–3). Notably, over 90% of these submissions were delivered within 24 hours, demonstrating both speed and commitment to quality.

Conclusion:

Our account management team met the challenge head-on, applying targeted strategies and building domain knowledge to navigate an unfamiliar space. This proactive approach has helped us earn the client’s trust and demonstrate our ability to deliver high-quality creative talent.