As Marketers continue to expand digital marketing budgets, Agencies must expand teams rapidly and fight for talent. The consequences of not meeting this growth challenge are dire – either clients are lost without the teams to support them, or existing employees burn out and leave.
This was certainly true for our client, a National Digital Agency. The Agency had over twelve digital roles to fill to meet client demand. It found itself without a dedicated talent acquisition function and also had limited prior success with engaging third-party recruiting firms.
“Due to organic growth and new business wins, we were in an expansion phase. We needed a strategic recruiting partner to fill numerous key roles quickly, while still controlling costs. Someone that could help us hire people with the right skills and experience, but – just as importantly – those who fit our culture.” – Client
The Challenge: This National Digital Agency needed to find a talent partner who could quickly build its trust with strict criteria:
1) Be well-connected within the national marketing and agency communities 2) Implement structure around the talent acquisition process 3) Quickly build a candidate pipeline for a wide variety of digital roles 4) Provide a “white glove” level of service at a cost-effective price
The Agency turned to MICA Consulting Group to tackle an assignment that would include roles in Digital Strategy, Account Services, Creative, UX and Project Management.
The Hiring Strategy: MICA provided a dedicated team to the assignment, including 2 Partners and a Director of Talent Acquisition. One Partner worked on-site at the Client two days a week, collaborating with hiring managers and the HR team.
MICA was responsible for all talent sourcing, screening and in-person interviews. In addition, MICA led all salary recommendations, negotiations and on-boarding of new hires.
The positive impact with this hands-on, dedicated approach was immediately felt by hiring managers at the Agency. Hiring managers felt relief that their open jobs were getting the right level of attention and that candidates presented were of high quality and a strong match.
Results: MICA completed 12 hires in an 8-month period. In addition, it reduced traditional recruiting fees by 28%. Roles filled included:
SVP, Marketing Strategy
Group Account Director
Associate Director, Marketing Analytics
Marketing Analyst
Front End Developer
UX Designer
Sr. Marketing Project Manager (3)
Sr. Copywriter
Visual Designer (2)
The Client Feedback:
“MICA has helped us achieve (our) objectives multiple times. In a competitive market, MICA ramped up quickly and was adept at understanding the ideal candidate profile for roles across all of our departments. They did a great job building relationships with hiring managers and representing our culture throughout the recruiting process. (MICA was) a true extension of the HR team & agency. I would strongly recommend MICA to any company looking for a strategic partner to effectively manage their recruiting process and deliver robust results…
We were able to fill more than 10+ roles in a short period of time, while maintaining a high quality-of-hire and significantly reducing our costs in comparison to traditional contingent recruiting fees.” - Client
MICA Consulting Group is a recruiting and consulting firm focused on connecting people in Marketing, Interactive, Business Development, Creative and Advertising. Contact us to deliver your agency talent solutions.