The Client

Dubit Ltd is a Leeds based digital agency, specialising in creating games and apps for children across multiple platforms. They have around 60 employees, with their development team split into tribes of four (comprising of a Lead, a Senior / Mid and two Mid / Juniors). They are based just outside of Leeds city centre, within walking distance from the train station.

The Proposal

• A retained headhunt campaign, targeting relevant, pre-approved, non-active candidates in the Leeds area, with the aim of providing successful one Lead Developer hire within a 6 week timeframe.

• An upfront cost, to be deducted from the fee upon successful placement. Dubit’s development team is fairly bottom-heavy. They find it quite easy to recruit Junior and Mid-level developers, but challenging to recruit Seniors and Leads. We met with Dave Hollows (VP of Delivery) and Patrick Mead (CTO) on 2nd February to discuss the challenges they face when recruiting. They explained that they had been looking to recruit a Senior or Lead Developer since October of the previous year, with no success. The main recruitment challenges faced by Dubit:

• Salary – Dubit’s budget for a Senior / Lead Developer is lower than the market rate for Leeds.

• Small talent pool – Dubit’s requirements for a Senior / Lead Developer (commercial React experience, proven ability to lead a team) are such that the pool of candidates available in Leeds, within Dubit’s budget, is fairly limited.

The Problem

• We had identified an initial longlist of 60 potential candidates, and talked through this longlist in the meeting. This was reviewed, and finalised, at 45 candidates to approach. Dubit would have exclusivity on these candidates for the duration of the headhunt campaign.

• These candidates would be approached using a variety of methods, including LinkedIn (posing as a Dubit internal recruiter), and Stackoverflow (we would set Dubit up with a Stackoverflow page to showcase the company and opportunity), with the intention of setting up informal chats with Dave Hollows in the first instance.

• Any candidates who responded positively would be pre-screened by a Hotfoot consultant (posing as a Dubit internal recruiter) to ensure suitability, and also to ensure both the candidate and Dave were fully prepped for the call.

• Following on from this initial call with Dave, the candidates would then be invited in for a face to face interview with Patrick. This would be the final stage of the process.

• Hotfoot (as Dubit internal recruiters) would handle all communication with these potential candidates, from initial approach, to arranging interviews, to providing feedback / offer. This would ensure effective, positive and proactive communication throughout the process.

The Method

THE CAMPAIGN: Week 1: • Dubit Stackoverflow page set up. (Appendix A)

• Job ad written for the Lead role, to be sent to prospective candidates and also to be available on Stackoverflow. (Appendix B)

• Approved longlist approached.

• First phone interview takes place.

• First face to face interview takes place.

Week 2:

• Second and third phone interviews take place. One is requested for face to face interview.

• All candidates from longlist who haven’t responded, receive a second approach.

• Offer received for the candidate interviewed the previous week. He unfortunately turns the offer down.

The Campaign

Week 3:

• Fourth, fifth and sixth phone interviews take place. Two are requested for face to face interview. One unfortunately declines due to a change in personal circumstances.

• A Hotfoot phone screen also takes place with a suitable and interested Lead Developer from Sky, who proves over budget for the Lead role, and is therefore rejected before speaking to Dave.

Week 4:

• Seventh and eighth further phone interviews take place. Both are requested for face to face interview.

Week 5:

• Second and third face to face interviews take place.

Week 6:

• Fourth face to face interview takes place.

• Offer made for the role of Lead Developer.

• Candidate accepts.

The Feedback

“I feel that the approach taken to fill the position required by Dubit was different but it felt personal to Dubit and thus I was more inclined to explore the possibility as opposed to being bombarded by recruiters. There was even more of a professional appeal to it over traditional methods which I found warming. Ultimately I am very pleased with the approach and feel I have found the next exciting chapter of my development career which I may have skipped over completely if I had taken any other position that came along. Thank you very much for all the assistance in acquiring this exciting role!” – Kaden Feldmesser, Lead JavaScript Developer, starting at Dubit May 2018 “Using an innovative multi-channel approach combined with good old hard work, Hotfoot have once managed again to find us a perfect fit! We had applicants that we would have never had had the chance to meet through the usual recruitment solutions. Added to this Hotfoot showed great understanding not only to our requirements but to cultural fit too. I'd recommend them for their ability to find great candidates and expertise on knowing what it takes to get people through the door.” – Dave Hollows, VP of Delivery, April 2018