Background on ALPHA CRC
Based in Cambridge and with multiple offices around the world, ALPHA CRC, established in 1987, is a leading translation and localization company with blue-chip clients around the world. Specialising in translating IT-related documentation, online help and software for local markets, ALPHA CRC has a 160 strong workforce: technical translators, project managers plus multi-lingual QA and engineering staff. Due to their continued success, they have an ongoing need to expand their workforce. Alpha’s staff retention is excellent (exceptional for the industry).
Challenge – Increasing the number of suitably qualified candidate applications
Translation is an undervalued profession with a huge void in good candidates, which makes it extremely difficult to source the right calibre of candidates. Conscious of this, ALPHA CRC had built up a strong recruitment ecosystem to create the best opportunities of attracting suitable candidates. This ecosystem includes recruiting through their own website, translation associations, universities across Europe, specialist HR agencies and foreign government employment agencies.
However, ALPHA CRC still wasn’t seeing enough good candidates to fill all roles available. They therefore decided that an additional source was needed towards finding talent, while at the same time supporting and enhancing its existing recruitment ecosystem.
Like many businesses, ALPHA CRC faced increasing time and cost constraints when it came to recruitment. ALPHA CRC wanted to be able to speak to a greater number of recruitment providers in order to widen their net of candidates, as they felt that many recruitment agencies had become complacent, often not researching the company or position and sending irrelevant and unqualified CVs. At the same time, managing the recruitment agencies was a time-consuming activity, first with unsolicited calls from agencies wanting to work on the available positions, and secondly giving them detailed candidate feedback. ALPHA CRC didn’t want this to add to the already significant amount of time they were spending managing the existing recruitment ecosystem.
Solution - Online recruitment marketplace to widen pool of recruitment agencies and candidates
Facing this recruitment challenge ALPHA CRC approached online recruitment marketplace TalentPuzzle. With a number of different positions requiring various specialist and technical skills, TalentPuzzle enabled ALPHA CRC to reach out to a greater number of recruitment agencies, for free and anonymously, without the need to place adverts on a number of different sites.
Using TalentPuzzle’s tendering platform, ALPHA CRC was able to state the percentage of salary it was willing to pay recruitment agencies once a position was successfully filled. This not only gave ALPHA CRC consistency across all agencies with regard to payment fees, but also allowed ALPHA CRC to keep costs low.
With TalentPuzzle’s auction style system, recruitment agencies were more energised, working harder for Alpha's business. The power was back with ALPHA CRC who could choose the agencies it wanted to work with, which in turn ensured Alpha received more relevant and qualified candidates as agencies fought for its business.
Furthermore, with a dedicated workspace on TalentPuzzle.com, ALPHA CRC can view the status of each job listed and respond to agencies, thereby creating a system that is easy to manage. This ensures that ALPHA CRC benefits from an efficient and effective service.
Benefits - A full and effective recruitment ecosystem
Although the challenges of the translation industry are still very much apparent, TalentPuzzle has given ALPHA CRC a new opportunity to speak with a larger pool of recruitment agencies. This in turn has enabled ALPHA CRC to attract and make contact with skilled candidates faster. With two positions quickly filled, ALPHA CRC has advertised a further 19 jobs to the TalentPuzzle community.
“TalentPuzzle has given us more control of our recruitment process; we no longer have to negotiate a fee with agencies as we can just state the percentage we’re willing to pay. Also, its sleek and simple user interface enables us to keep better track of the various placements advertised and the agencies’ responses,” commented Isabelle Weiss, founder and director of translation and HR, ALPHA CRC.
www.talentpuzzle.com
Monday, 14 June 2010Monday, 8 March 2010TIME CONSTRAINTS HINDERING EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT
Survey reveals lack of time is limiting employers’ recruitment pool
London – 08 March 2010 – Recruitment processes are taking too long, according to new research from TalentPuzzle, the online recruitment marketplace. 86% of the business owners and HR staff surveyed admitted that that they would like to spend less time dealing with recruitment processes and agencies, especially as the majority (88%) of them are saying they would be looking to make a significant number of permanent hires over the next six months. “Currently employers are caught in a catch 22 situation when it comes to recruitment,” commented Virginia Raemy, CEO. “Employers recognise the importance of recruiting the right people, however many simply don’t have the time to properly devote to recruitment. Ultimately, they can be dealing with dozens of agencies for a single advertised position, which means multiple contracts, multiple fees and multiple negotiations all of which can be very time-consuming.” Typically, employers will initially engage with recruitment agencies in order to try and reduce their recruitment burden. However, the reality is that they can invest a lot of time with an agency only to receive CVs that don’t meet their requirements, meaning that they can be faced with having to source additional agencies, which again can be very time-consuming. Nearly three-quarters of the organisations surveyed said that they found it difficult to find good recruitment agencies. Due to time constraints organisations will still only work with a handful of recruitment agencies as opposed to the hundreds in the market. This on the one hand might make managing the different recruitment agencies easier, but on the other it can limit the talent pool they are recruiting from. 73% of the respondents admitted that because of lack of time they were limiting their recruitment pool and missing out on potentially good candidates. Particularly in the current climate there is a big emphasis on candidate quality and time to hire. Therefore, it is clear that recruitment agencies need to continue to raise their standards while employers need to be smarter about how they engage with them. 86% of organisations said that if they were able to more effectively source the best recruitment agencies it would result in less hassle and improve the quality of their hires. “Employers want to continue working with recruitment agencies, however up until now it has been quite difficult for them to quickly identify the best or most suitable. By using a recruitment marketplace such as TalentPuzzle, organisations can easily rate the performance of individual agencies based on the quality of CVs submitted and their responsiveness. This crowd-sourcing approach to rating agencies can help organisations quickly identify the best or most appropriate agencies to work with,” added Virginia Raemy. The survey of 250 business owners and HR staff at UK organisations, with up to 750 employees, was commissioned by TalentPuzzle and conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne. About TalentPuzzle (www.talentpuzzle.com) TalentPuzzle is an online marketplace aimed at bringing transparency to the recruiting process, resulting in efficiency gains for all the parties involved. TalentPuzzle offers a solution for both employers and recruiters. The TalentPuzzle platform offers employers a recruiting channel which enables them to reduce external search costs, the time to fill a vacancy and the administrative hassle of engaging and negotiating with numerous recruiters offline. For recruiters, TalentPuzzle offers an easy way to gain access to top companies, quickly develop relationships and generate extra revenue. Currently, 429 different recruiters UK are registered with TalentPuzzle. For further information, please contact Sam Tring Spark Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7436 0420 sam@sparkcomms.co.uk 
Monday, 1 March 2010Female Entrepreneur Startup Interview: “The MBA was the Stamp of Approval for my Fundraising” View the full article February 26, 2010 Virginia Raemy, Founder of Talentpuzzle Swiss born female entrepreneur Virginia Raemy is fairly relaxed about her new role as founder of start-up Talentpuzzle. “Its fun, I am enjoying it, I can be creative, and I can take full responsibility, and have no boss”. She has reason to be content. She just received a couple of hundred thousands pounds of funding from the Venrex Fund and the Aspire Fund.. “And I have 2 smaller angel investors on board, because I was running out of cash at that time”, she says in a rather laid back manner. Start of the Company: No US Partner But on Her Own The idea for the company came about at the end of December 2008 and started its activities in the summer of 2009, after the hedge fund were Virginia assumed a financial role went under. With 40.000 pounds of her own capital, she started the UK version of ‘proven concept’ recruitment portal Bountyjobs, but not as a franchise but totally independent as the people from Bountyjobs had indicated to Virginia that they had no interest in starting in the UK. The proven concept is a disruptive model that puts the employer in first place on the website by starting a tender process for agencies, who then can decide themselves whether they are interested to help fulfil a vacancy. When a vacancy is fulfilled, Talentpuzzle sends out and invoice and keeps 25% of the commission earned by the agency. The Route to get an Investor on BoardIn order to get things going, Victoria wanted to get outside funding. With a working platform, some recruitment firms as clients she started to contact investors. Even though she had no transaction, no placement made, no income and no success, she could show a proven model in the US to convince potential investors. And she could use the word ‘disruptive’ when describing the business model. She called upon her network for introductions. Many networking events, business plan presentations, pitching opportunities and conversations followed. She updated the business plan along the route, but the numbers stayed the same. What do you need as an Entrepreneur looking for Investment?“Lots of stamina”, says Virginia who encountered at least 20 NO’s before she was courted by Venrex, a seed capital investor who also invests in Smython and many offline companies. Her advisers gave her the credibility to the outside world, and she gave them some equity in return. Aspire Fund matched the Funding When Venrex approved the deal, she was able to use the possibility of the women focused Aspire Fund to match the funding. Each put in couple of hundred thousands pounds, while two angels invested alongside. The Aspire Fund liked the idea from the start, however “its due diligence process with them was long and thorough, before they actually committed the funds”, Virginia says. Who is in the team? Any Adviser or Mentor? The first year Virginia was by herself with a couple of outside advisers, who received equity. Currently, she is looking for a mentor who has HR industry knowledge. Is she offering Hockey Stick returns to Investors?“Actually, the numbers are put in very conservative”, says Virginia. And she did not take any salary the first year. Her background as financial expert has helped her in drafting her own financials in the business plan. Up till now, Talentpuzzle has done 10 placements, while there are about 50 vacancies on the site. Any competitors for Talentpuzzle? In the last year, two UK companies have started a similar concept. But Virginia is not worried at all, as she finds “that there is room for more parties to divide the market share”. In her opinion, the first mover advantage benefits Talentpuzzle, and the marketing efforts of going to trade exhibits, using the HR press routes and lots of networking with start-ups and PR agencies has proven important in this respect. And the Exit?“In three years” she says quickly, “that should be sufficient to grow the business for an exit. Although”, she adds, “it will probably be 5 years.” And did the MBA help her as an entrepreneur?“It was a stamp of approval”, the female entrepreneur says and adds: “It made the fundraising much easier.”
Thursday, 18 February 2010Beating the frustration: improving HR’s relationship with recruiters Coverage in HR Zone on February 18, 2010 Historically HR and recruiters haven't had a great relationship, yet they both need each other - something has to be done so we can both get along. While in theory recruitment only forms a small part of an HR manager’s role, in practice it can be one of the most time-consuming elements. In addition, at a time when HR is under pressure from the business to reduce costs, it is essential to try and make new hires as cost effective as possible. However, with HR managers having less time on their hands to brief and give feedback to recruiters, it becomes more difficult for recruiters to put forward the right candidates. This vicious circle can leave both parties feeling the strain and searching for new ways that they can work together to create a more efficient and effective recruitment process. Getting value for money UK businesses currently spend £2.6 billion on external recruitment each year. However, recent research by Vanson Bourne found that 76% of the business owners and HR staff surveyed felt that they were not getting value for money, despite often paying up to 30% of the candidate’s annual base salary to recruiters. One particular problem is the lack of transparency or consistency when it comes to agency fees. This can make employers feel ripped off. In addition, it also makes it hard for employers to balance their recruitment budget when fees vary so much. Vanson Bourne’s research found that 77% of employers were frustrated that there wasn’t any consistency in recruitment rates and rebates. Time is money Employers use recruitment agencies to help them save time in the recruitment process with the expectation that the agency will pre-screen the applicants and present a short list of those best suited for the job. However, in reality, busy HR departments and employers are often left frustrated about the time it takes to brief recruitment agencies. Many say that recruiters don’t listen to them and then send them poorly targeted CVs that don’t fit the specifications they are looking for. Vanson Bourne’s research found that over half (58%) felt that briefing recruitment agencies can be a waste of time. Another gripe that employers have is recruiters overselling the skills of candidates. When this happens, employers find that the skills match isn’t what was promised or the cultural fit isn’t there. It is little wonder that this, together with unwanted calls, unqualified CVs and the constant chasing for CV/candidate feedback, are the top frustrations for HR departments. All of which can lead to a bad relationship between employers and recruitment agencies. Limiting the talent pool As a result of these frustrations, particularly the time taken to brief and manage each recruitment agency, many businesses will only work with a select few agencies, despite the cost and candidate quality, instead of taking the time to properly source agencies that best suit the business’s needs. This approach severely limits the size of the talent pool that the company is exposed to and they could potentially be missing out on the best candidates. On the other hand... The criticism of recruiters is not just one sided. Many recruiters also fairly point the finger at employers and say they could be doing more to improve communication. Recruiters often say that although they realise the pressure HR is under, they still don’t receive enough feedback and guidance in order to perform the best candidate search. Recruiters also say they spend on average 50-75% of their time on making cold calls to employers to drum up new business. This can have a limited return and is annoying for employers. Instead, agencies should be spending their time finding and filtering appropriate candidates for existing briefs as putting a more select group of applicants forward can create better long-term relationships with employers with the potential for recurring revenue. In addition, many employers tend to stick with the same one or two agencies because of time constraints or concerns about perceived “bad” practices across the recruitment industry. This can make it very hard for smaller or less well-known agencies to get in front of employers. Raising standards across the recruitment industry as a whole will help all agencies increase the number of new business opportunities they receive by creating a more level playing field. Creating a functioning symbiotic relationship It is clear that recruiters and employers need a better way to work together, whether it is simply by communicating better with each other or by using an online recruitment marketplace. Both parties obviously need each other and while they both have different goals; recruiters want revenue and employers want to decrease the time to hire, both lead to the same outcome of the right candidate placed in the right job. By working together, recruiters and HR can ensure smarter interactions. This means less administration and better targeted CVs, saving both parties valuable time and money. Helping employers reduce hiring time and helping recruiters to improve their reputation, increase their quality and hopefully increase their new business will create a win-win situation for everyone.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010Online “marketplaces” - a new interface between employers and recruiters Published by the UK Recruiter on January 20, 2010. Written by Virginia Raemy It is no news that the UK recruitment industry is very fast paced: there is a continuous supply of new job boards for direct advertisement and variations on multi-posting services with the latest thing being social media. Twitter-enabled job search was the name of the game in 2009. But what is happening in the more traditional candidate search and selection space? This area, characterised by stale employer-recruiter relationships and frustrating cold-calling activity, is certainly ripe for a change. Not surprisingly, the UK recruitment industry has recently seen the advent of several innovative suppliers aimed at revolutionising the existing employer-recruiter interaction model. Based on a model that has already caused a stir in America, these new suppliers are creating transparency in the traditionally opaque recruitment process, benefiting both employers and recruiters. Some call it a “marketplace”, some a tendering platform – the important thing is that it positively transforms the current employer-recruiter relationship. Employers get to advertise their jobs alongside the fee they are prepared to pay to a recruitment consultant for making a successful candidate introduction. Recruiters get instant access to new vacancies and can decide, based on the job specification and advertised fee, if it is worth their while to submit candidates. Enhanced transparency eliminates the inefficiencies in the recruitment process: no need for cold calls, pitching for business or fee negotiations. In the US, BountyJobs.com has successfully offered this model for several years, whilst the UK saw the recent launch of TalentPuzzle.com, mypeoplebiz.com and several others. Why is there a need for this service? Mainly because administering the recruitment process is taking too long for both employers and recruiters. Cold calls are the main reason why employers and recruiters often have a “love-hate” relationship. These new marketplaces eliminate the need for recruiters to spend the majority of their time sourcing new business and for employers to field unsolicited sales calls. And standardisation of terms and contracts saves valuable time that can be spent on sourcing the right candidates. By working better together both recruiters and HR can benefit from having smarter interactions - meaning less administration and better targeted CVs. Secondly, they revolutionise the existing Preferred Supplier List (“PSL”) arrangements. What was once an elegant solution to lock in existing employer-recruiter relationships at preferred pricing and a good way to block speculative cold calls from recruitment agencies no longer holds up in the current age of web 2.0. Why should employers limit themselves to a set number of agencies if they can reach out to more without any additional work? More agencies mean access to more candidates, which usually means faster fill times. And it’s not just a matter of quantity; PSLs are by their very nature limited, but these marketplaces are open by design and they allow employers to reach a broader and more varied range of talent than they would normally have access to. Thirdly, they dramatically reduce the channels, networks and number of relationships employers have to maintain. Now, the employer has only one relationship, and that is with the operator of the marketplace, not with a bevy of agencies. Furthermore, how do employers know if they are working with the best possible agencies out there? An agency that once was performing well at the time when the PSL was set, might no longer be the top agency a few months later. This issue can be solved by the marketplace provider incorporating cloud-feedback: employers rate each recruiter interaction they have in the marketplace and this up-to-date feedback, collected and shared amongst the entire HR community, enables employers to choose the best agencies every single time. Recruitment agencies benefit, as these platforms level the playing field between large and small agencies. Whatever their size or revenue, what matters is their effectiveness in delivering the right candidate. And there is no hiding place here - the metrics of all transactions are there for all to see in real-time. At the same time, recruiters face new challenges in these marketplaces. One is that the marketplace suppliers take between 15 and 25 per cent of the placement fee. Are recruiters willing to trade-off reduced earnings for increased access to vacancies and potentially more placements? Another is that because spamming is so much easier online, employers could face a deluge from “resume spammers”. This prompts the question: at what point in the development of these services will recruiters have to be certified so that lame-duck, shoddy or cowboy agencies do not clog up the system? So are these new marketplaces the PSL replacement for the 21st century? Maybe. They certainly overcome many of the current inefficiencies in the recruitment process and offer a host of additional benefits by benefiting from the reach of the Internet and through standardisation of interactions. Virginia Raemy set up www.talentpuzzle.com in 2008 after working for London based hedge fund managing an investment in the recruitment sector. Previously, Virginia worked in the corporate finance teams of Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. Virginia holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in economics from Yale University. Email: virginia@talentpuzzle.com Tel: 020 3189 2096
Monday, 18 January 2010THREE-QUARTERS OF UK BUSINESSES FEEL ‘RIPPED OFF’
Survey reveals ‘overselling of candidates’ and ‘unqualified CVs’ continue to frustrate employers
London – 18 January 2010 – Employers feel ripped off by recruitment agencies, according to new research released today by TalentPuzzle, the online recruitment marketplace. UK businesses currently spend £2.5 billion on external recruitment each year, however 76% of the business owners and HR staff surveyed felt that they were not getting value for money. In addition, 77% were frustrated that there wasn’t any consistency in recruitment rates and rebates, with businesses paying as much as 25-30% in placement fees. “With so little consistency and transparency when it comes to fees it is easy to see why employers can feel ripped off by recruitment agencies,” commented Virginia Raemy, CEO of TalentPuzzle. “It can also be very difficult for businesses to know what their competitors are paying, meaning that they could be paying over the odds or are missing out on the best talent. At a time when businesses are looking to reduce recruitment costs, the recruitment industry needs to start being more realistic and transparent, while ensuring the quality and targeting of CVs they send through improves.” Despite feeling ripped off, employers do recognise the value of working with recruitment agencies, with 92% of the respondents saying that they were planning to use an agency in the next six months. Furthermore, the ability to fill specialist positions and solicit better candidates were cited as the main reasons for engaging with them. However, the research suggests that recruitment agencies need to improve their service levels, as business owners and HR staff invest precious time briefing recruitment agencies, only to receive a lot of poorly-targeted CVs that don’t meet their requirements. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that over half (58%) felt that briefing recruitment agencies can be a waste of time. When asked about what frustrates business owners and HR staff most about recruitment agencies the ‘overselling of candidates’ (36%) and receiving ‘unqualified CVs’ (31%) were seen as the biggest frustrations, followed by the ‘constant chasing for candidate/CV feedback’. All of this further reinforces the current “love-hate” relationship between employers and recruiters. Employers often feel that recruiters don’t properly listen to them, while recruiters complain that they don’t receive timely feedback from employers. “It is clear that both recruiters and employers need to improve the way that they work together. They should have a symbiotic relationship, rather than seemingly working against each other. By working much more smartly and effectively together this would help raise the quality and targeting of CVs. This is a win-win situation for both parties, as it helps employers to reduce their time to hire and helps recruiters improve their reputation, increase their quality and hopefully increase their new business,” added Virginia Raemy. The survey of 250 business owners and HR staff at UK organisations, with up to 750 employees, was commissioned by TalentPuzzle to gain a better understanding of how companies are currently engaging with recruitment agencies. The research was conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne. About TalentPuzzle (www.talentpuzzle.com) TalentPuzzle is an online marketplace aimed at bringing transparency to the recruiting process, resulting in efficiency gains for all the parties involved. TalentPuzzle offers a solution for both employers and recruiters. The TalentPuzzle platform offers employers a recruiting channel which enables them to reduce external search costs, the time to fill a vacancy and the administrative hassle of engaging and negotiating with numerous recruiters offline. For recruiters, TalentPuzzle offers an easy way to gain access to top companies, quickly develop relationships and generate extra revenue. Currently, nearly 300 different recruiters UK are registered with TalentPuzzle. For further information, please contact Alex Crawshaw / Ana Williams Spark Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7436 0420 alex@sparkcomms.co.uk / ana@sparkcomms.co.uk
Thursday, 14 January 2010The Guardian have published an exciting article about TalentPuzzle in "Small is beautiful" TalentPuzzle can work out recruitment answers Smoothing links between employers and job agencies is saving time, hassle and costs Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk, Thursday 14 January 2010 15.22 GMT Like so many start-ups, it was the push of redundancy that encouraged Virginia Raemy to pursue her idea for a new business. With some money for investment, she began piecing together a proposal that would turn heads among investors. This week her firm, TalentPuzzle, claimed it was winning contracts after support from venture capital backer Venrex and the government's Aspire Fund, which invests in women-run start-ups. TalentPuzzle is a recruitment business that acts as an intermediary between employers and traditional recruiters. She said employers have quickly seen the benefits of a virtual service that helps to cut out an estimated 10.3m hours a year spent talking to agencies that spend, in turn, around 50% of their time cold-calling employers to promote a candidate or sell a service. Even web-only operations such as Monster.co.uk essentially replicated the off-line world, just with cheaper overheads. "We link recruiters with employers and save time, hassle and cost. We take 25% of the fee a recruiter receives if they go through our system, but that is worth it given how much money they save." Raemy is a Swiss national who went to the US for her education and settled in London to work. A former Citigroup and Deutsche Bank investment adviser, it was while she was at a hedge fund working on a specialist investment fund that she became interested in the recruitment industry. "I was managing an investment in a recruitment company and I came across a new model in the US I felt was an interesting development. No one was doing anything like it in the UK at the time. "When my fund was liquidated I thought why not do it myself. I paid developers out of my own pocket to develop a platform. I took that round to investors and, after several months of talking, secured an investment from Venrex that was later matched by Aspire." Venrex is better known for its investment in Smythson, the Bond Street handbag and jewellery shop that counts Samantha Cameron, wife of the Conservative leader, as creative director. Raemy said the online marketplace she has created allows employers to advertise jobs for free to a network of around 300 recruitment agencies. Hays, the major recruiter, joined the list of members last week. Forty employers are currently signed up. "Employers are able to set the placement fee they're willing to pay. Recruiters can see the vacancy, the rate being paid and have a clear run at competing to fill the post. From there, employers are able to select the recruiters they want to work with based on feedback from other employers. This approach can significantly reduce the time and money both parties spend on administering their recruitment processes." Like Amazon and eBay customers, employers can judge recruiters using a five-star rating system. Melanie Perkins of the Aspire Fund said around £2m of the £12.5m earmarked for investment has already been placed since it was established in November 2008. She said the fund will match existing venture capital up to 50% with a maximum investment of £1m. She refused to disclose how much TalentPuzzle was given after Raemy requested the sum be kept secret. "Raemy made the request because she believes it could allow rival start-ups to know how much fire-power TalentPuzzle has," she added. Raemy, who has two full-time staff and a raft of freelance developers to support the business, said rivals were starting to appear and were a potential threat, but the extra funding would be sufficient to establish the business. "We have enough firepower now to spend time convincing employers how the arrangement we offer is better than the previous wasteful process," she said. "The current economic situation is also helpful because lots of employers are looking to change the way they do things, especially medium-sized firms that want to save money as well as get the best candidate. Perkins's last investment was a £400,000 stake in a Cambridge-based pharmaceutical development company Altacor led by Fran Crawford. She said women were increasingly coming directly to her office to pitch for funding rather than working through other venture funds, but has a warning for prospective bidders. "I was aware there were many women entrepreneurs out there looking for support, but I've been surprised at the quality of people and bids. The standard has been very high."
Wednesday, 13 January 2010The Aspire Fund announces deal with TalentPuzzle
Groundbreaking online recruitment tendering platform secures funding from The Aspire Fund in order to build on its successful 2009 launch. Monday 11th January 2009.
TalentPuzzle, a brand new online recruitment platform which radically improves the recruitment process for employers and recruitment agencies, has secured its first external investment round from a syndicate which includes the government’s flagship £12.5m Aspire Fund, managed by Capital for Enterprise Ltd (CfEL). Alongside the Aspire Fund, Talent Puzzle received investment from private fund Venrex Investment Management LLP and two further angel investors, in a funding round that will allow the company to enhance its platform, increase marketing efforts and broaden its database. Launched in June 2009, TalentPuzzle is revolutionising the UK’s £2.5bn permanent search recruitment market by creating a platform where employers and recruiters can interact more efficiently with each other. TalentPuzzle empowers employers to openly set and advertise to a network of industry leading recruitment agencies the placement fee they are willing to pay for a successful candidate introduction. The resulting transparency will lead employers and recruiters to work better together by improving the quality and suitability of CVs submitted by agencies, thereby reducing costs and improving the time to hire. Founded by entrepreneur Virginia Raemy, TalentPuzzle is providing solutions that are critical during the current downturn and will transform the traditionally highly opaque, unstructured employer / recruitment firm interaction model. Established in November 2008, the £12.5m Aspire Fund targets support for women-led businesses with an objective to increase the number of successful female entrepreneurs within the UK, ensuring that those with real potential to succeed are not held back through a lack of growth capital. The Fund is able to make investments of between £100k and £1m, providing up to 50% of capital in a funding round alongside other private investors. The Aspire Fund is managed by Capital for Enterprise Ltd on behalf of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). Commenting on this investment for CfEL, Melanie Perkins, Lead Manager of the Aspire Fund, said: “We are delighted to be investing in this innovative and promising young company that provides such a critical service to employers and we look forward to helping TalentPuzzle grow from strength to strength.” Vigrinia Raemy, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of TalentPuzzle, said: “I am very happy and feel reinforced by the trust that Aspire and Venrex are showing us through their respective investments. I have big goals for TalentPuzzle and with our investors’ support plan to establish TalentPuzzle as the UK’s leading recruitment marketplace for employers and recruitment agencies. “ Alongside the Aspire Fund CfEL manage the £15m Capital for Enterprise Co-Investment fund (the Co-Fund), which is also able available to invest up to 50% of capital in funding rounds of between £200,000 and £2million, alongside other established fund managers, into SMEs. The Co-Fund has been making new investments over the past 10 months with a focus on fundamentally sound businesses with existing cash flows and genuine growth potential but which are currently unable to access the funding they need.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009TALENTPUZZLE DEMONSTRATES RAPID GROWTH WITH NEARLY 300 RECRUITMENT AGENCIES SIGNED UP SINCE LAUNCH
Online recruitment marketplace lowering costs and encouraging increased quality of agencies and better quality CVs
London – 9th December 2009 – TalentPuzzle (www.talentpuzzle.com), an online recruitment marketplace which allows employers to advertise jobs for free to a network of agencies, has announced that nearly 300 recruitment agencies have already signed up to the service since it launched just under six months ago. The site allows employers to set the percentage placement fees they are willing to pay for a successful candidate introduction, thereby standardising and lowering costs. Recruiters can then see the vacancy and the rate being paid and compete to fill the post. Employers can anonymously post jobs and select recruiters based on performance ratings, encouraging recruiters to send better quality CVs. In addition, every selected recruitment agency can see how many others are working on the particular role, so are therefore incentivised to put their best candidates forward to secure the placement fee. “Whether you are a business owner or HR executive the challenges are the same, to reduce costs and hire as quickly and as effectively as possible,” commented Virginia Raemy, CEO of TalentPuzzle. “The marketplace is intended to help with these challenges, as well as improve relationships between employers and recruiters which have historically been strained, despite both parties recognising the value of working well together.” As well as improving the quality of CVs received, time-pressured business owners and HR staff will generate an increased pool of potential candidates using the site. All invoicing is through TalentPuzzle providing one point of payment. In addition, rebate terms are a standard eight week money back guarantee, providing value better than the industry average. Specialist Technologies Aerospace Group is an early customer of the marketplace. The company buys and sells aircraft parts to customers which include the Ministry of Defence. As a private organisation reducing costs is crucial, but also is the quality of any candidate that they hire. They had a sales support admin role to fill which they did using the site in less than four weeks. “Working in HR life can be very complicated and confusing, using TalentPuzzle everything is just simplified from costs, to processes and relationships with recruiters. In the past we have paid anything up to a massive 22% for a hire. Using TalentPuzzle we were able to fill the position for a fee of just 5%,” commented Jill Langley, HR Executive Specialist Technologies Ltd. “The three recruitment agencies that engaged with us on the position were all extremely helpful and the agency that filled the position even came to the first interview.” Jill Langley continued, “The person we have hired has turned out to be a great sales person. We intend to continue using the service and currently have a role posted on the marketplace. The key benefit for us has been the increased number of recruiters that we now work with in a simple and effective way. This has had a knock on effect on the number and relevancy of CVs that we receive. The site keeps a record of the number of CVs, agencies, and even names of recruiters - you would be surprised how many Helens there are! This means we can keep track of which agency has sent what and respond accordingly. Using TalentPuzzle has helped us improve our relationships with recruiters.” For further information, please contact Alex Crawshaw / Ana Williams Spark Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7436 0420 alex@sparkcomms.co.uk / ana@sparkcomms.co.uk
Friday, 27 November 2009
Recruiter magazine have published an excellent article about TalentPuzzle in their November issue. Here it is!
Tuesday, 29 September 2009TalentPuzzle, the game changing marketplace for employers, releases a new version of its site
TalentPuzzle, the innovative recruitment marketplace which lets employers advertise jobs for free to a network of accredited recruitment agencies, released a new version of its site today.
The new version, based on user feedback complied throughout the alpha-test phase, includes a feedback system through which the recruiters (sellers) are rated and reviewed by the employers and receive performance ratings according to criteria such as suitability of CVs submitted, communication level and responsiveness. These performance ratings ensure that recruiters are incentivised to only submit their best CVs and at the same time empowers employers to voice their views and concerns. TalentPuzzle’s main goal is to ensure that employers receive higher quality CVs by increasing transparency in the marketplace. “We want to relieve HR managers from having to skim through hundreds of unqualified CVs”, says Virginia Raemy, TalentPuzzle’s CEO. As with any real world exchange, transparency increases the competition amongst transacting members: recruiters compete to fill the advertised jobs and will provide better CVs faster. A side benefit of competition is the pressure on fees. Employers set the placement fee for each advertised job according to what they are willing to pay. TalentPuzzle thus offers a convenient recruitment solution at times when many HR managers are faced with a tight budget. Whilst the emphasise is on increasing transparency, TalentPuzzle ensures that the employer’s confidentiality is protected. “We make sure that advertisers won’t get inundated with unsolicited calls and emails,” says Virginia Raemy. TalentPuzzle only releases the job advertiser’s identity once the employer has chosen to engage a specific recruitment agency to work on a role. This enables companies advertising on TalentPuzzle to benefit from a more efficient hiring process: CVs of higher relevance will shorten the hiring cycle and come at a reasonable cost. TalentPuzzle does not charge employers to advertise jobs or to use the site, other than a transaction fee upon a successful hire. www.talentpuzzle.com
Monday, 6 July 2009TalentPuzzle featured on personneltoday.com TalentPuzzle has been featured in the Supplier News section of Personnel Today. The item is basically a reprint of our launch press release (see below). If you're a journalist or blogger there's still time to get the scoop on our market-disrupting recruitment platform! We're more than happy to field press enquiries - just call us any time on 020 3189 2095 or contact us via the site.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009Press coverage in Recruiter magazine
Recruiter magazine have published an excellent article about TalentPuzzle in their June issue. Here it is!
Tuesday, 2 June 2009Press Release: TalentPuzzle launches an innovative website aimed at cutting external search costs
TalentPuzzle, a new marketplace aiming to drive down recruitment costs, launched last month.
Based on a model that has already caused a stir in America, TalentPuzzle lets companies post their job vacancies and set the percentage placement fees they are willing to pay to a recruitment agency for a successful candidate introduction. Recruiters see the vacancy and their earnings potential and compete to fill the post. Employers can select and reject individual recruiters based on performance ratings, so recruiters have an incentive to provide high quality CVs at all times. It is free for employers to advertise jobs. TalentPuzzle has the potential to lower recruiting costs by allowing employers to set fees of their choice. As well as more cost-efficient recruiting, TalentPuzzle aims to fill vacancies faster and more effectively thanks to competition between recruitment agencies and access to a larger candidate pool. An added bonus is that employers get the convenience of maintaining just one vendor relationship with TalentPuzzle rather than engaging with numerous individual recruiters. TalentPuzzle could be a timely solution for HR departments looking for ways to recruit more cost effectively, faster and more efficiently, while recruitment agencies get access to more vacancies, make more placements, and develop new relationships.
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What is TalentPuzzle?TalentPuzzle is an innovative marketplace linking employers with vacancies to recruiters with candidates. Employers advertise job requirements and specify the placement fee. Recruiters see instantly how much they can earn and decide whether to submit candidates.
Press enquiriesIf you would like a chat about TalentPuzzle or anything else that takes your fancy please call us on 020 3189 2095 between 9am and 6pm, or contact us via the site. |
