Chairman, NED and Consultant Ian Nash has chaired judging of the RI Awards for a decade and will head the panel for TIARA 2019. Ian shares some insights on what he will be looking for from this year’s entrants and how to increase your chances of winning.
What are you looking for from those entering the TIARA 2019 Best Recruitment Company to Work For categories?
I’m looking for those companies that are driving consistent growth, expanding their footprint, and demonstrating a continued investment in talent that will keep them performing strongly in the future. With this as the baseline, I’m also keen to see innovative hiring processes, enlightened training programmes, and exciting incentive schemes coupled with a true social conscience.
Which recruitment companies are built to last and more likely to win a TIARA?
Those companies with a capacity to re-invent themselves and move with the times will ultimately succeed. Command and control and making people work 8 till 8 are just driving attrition. Talent is either leaving to start their own ventures, working client side or working in a recruitment business where communication, trust, responsibility and accountability are prioritised above attendance. Those companies that couple this with a clear vision for the future will be our winners.
How easy is it to compare SME recruitment firms with the larger corporates to decide who is best?
Too often, the responses from the larger companies are too general, and present their overall brand message instead of highlighting specific areas of strength and success within their business. A division might have access to a larger marketing budget, but it can be harder to drive innovation and growth in a more bureaucratic or hierarchical organisation. It is for the larger businesses to show that this is not the case.
Conversely, a smaller business is more agile. It can be easier to fund new talent and ideas but it’s harder to achieve scale without the customer base and infrastructure of a larger company. We want to see this agility result in success. Therefore, both types of entrant should explain the context of their achievements, challenges overcome, and why it’s worthy of recognition.
What’s your advice to anyone deciding whether to enter the TIARAs?
It’s great to see the TIARAs taking the RI Awards to the next level and focusing on the industry’s top 6%. Bringing some very impressive senior in-house leaders into the judging panel adds credibility to the TIARAs and makes them awards worth winning. There is greater scope to explain what set the winners apart in TALiNT International long after the ceremony – and it is our intention to provide feedback.
My advice to anyone entering is to give serious thought to how their business is presented as the winners will have to be both deserving and outstanding. We hope to see the senior management of all those who are shortlisted present at the TIARA ceremony to receive the respect and admiration of their peers if they are crowned winners.
The TIARAs recognise excellence, innovation and growth in the recruitment sector across 14 categories. Details of the categories, and their sponsors, can be found at here.