Nov 11, 2020
Why should clients do business with you instead of your competition? What do you offer that is genuinely unique? Couldn’t your competitors make exactly the same claim? Are your prospects able to discern the difference between what you offer vs your closest competitors?
It’s not easy to explain how your service is better in a way that is tangible and believable. Yet it’s critical that you create a “unique value proposition” if you’re going to thrive in a saturated recruitment market - especially during tough times.
In this episode of the Resilient Recruiter, my special guests, Kevin Redman and Matt Halfpenny share their journey - the highs and lows - and discuss how they have differentiated their service from their competitors. Kevin and Matt are owners of the Property Recruitment Company, founded in 2012 with offices in London and Manchester.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [1:34] The how and why - Kevin tells the story of how he started the business in 2012.
- [6:57] Matt and Kevin unveil their “highs and lows” that they had to navigate through as leaders and entrepreneurs.
- [12:52] A vision of trying to be different and having a unique value proposition.
- [16:10] Kevin and Matt talk about differentiating themselves from the competition and what you can learn as a recruiter.
- [29:46] What it means to lead the change in recruitment instead of just catching up.
- [33:05] How the retained model can provide more options, flexibility, and a better sense of protection to your clients.
- [41:10] “The CV is dying” - this is a bold statement you should hear more about!
- [50:00] What the future holds for the property recruitment company
“Dare to be Different”
Early in our interview, Kevin and Matt shared the vision that they are working to achieve together. It is “daring to be different.” As Kevin puts it, “I think the biggest value in our business and in my world, personally, that resonates with me and our business is ‘dare to be different’… We got to be different. There are thousands of recruitment companies out there who all transfer people into jobs. We got to have a unique selling point. And I think it was exploring what is different.”
Matt also added, “The first thing I wanted to do was be different in terms of the clients or sectors we operate in. We didn’t want to go, or stay in, markets that are overly saturated in my view and actually be confident in our niche.”
Hear the different ways on how they are able to differentiate themselves from the competition and how you may be able to apply this to your own recruitment business.
The “CV is Dying”
While discussing how to keep up with the changes in the recruitment process, Kevin mentioned that the “CV is dying.” What exactly does he mean? Kevin said, “It is a bold statement...I just think now, in a world with a million different job titles, and really duties being fairly similar inside of these job titles, how do you tell? We talked a lot about the culture and as a recruiter the easiest thing for us is skill-matching. Look for a CV, you do XYZ in that CV, my job description says XYZ, that is a match, great! But look, your hiring decisions are motivated, it’s rarely on the skill, it’s cultural fit. Who is right for my organization? Who resonates with my values? … I think you can waste a lot of time looking at ‘CV to skill match’.” To emphasize, he also mentioned, “I think it’s dead because it lacks personality… our world is all about personality, we are service driven, particularly in the UK nation.”
Matt added, “If you look at the CV, how many times does a hiring manager look there and go either, “Wow they’ve worked at that place, they must be great,” or “They’ve worked for this organization they must be terrible.” These very quick assumptions based on length of service, who they work for, all of that, can be mitigated, all of that risk can be reduced, by showcasing another side of them. For us that is usually a recorded Q&A, still got a bit of competency into it. Shows personality, delves into some of the values and experience.” Listen to their other insightful takes on how to remain unique and relevant in the recruitment industry.
Property Recruitment Background and Contact Info
Property Recruitment was initially born out of the desire to change people’s minds about the relevance and value of recruitment agencies and that is still the key attribute to the culture within the company. The business prides itself on being a challenger recruitment company identifying emerging property sectors and deploying their solutions and expertise in helping organizations connect with incredible talent
The business was founded by Kevin Redman who has 12 years of recruitment experience having previously worked for the UK's fastest growth Public Sector Recruiter then later with a Global Recruitment Agency. Kevin has had an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age and his can-do attitude are characteristics that have been a key influence in the growth of the business
In 2017 Matthew Halfpenny became the second equity director. Matthew was previously a Senior Director within one of the UK's largest recruitment companies with expertise in securing high volume recruitment accounts whilst managing large personnel teams.
Matt and Kevin are passionate believers that the traditional recruitment model will soon not be fit for purpose in the digital revolution. In line with their culture of changing mindsets, they have been early adopters of tech and made it part of the fabric of their business.
- Website link: www.propertyrecruitmentcompany.com
- Property Recruitment on LinkedIn
Connect with Kevin and Matt
Connect with Mark Whitby
- Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/
- Mark on LinkedIn
- Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby
- Mark on Facebook
- Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
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