It is critical to get this right to ensure the success of your search. Cobalt meets every client to ensure a full understanding of the technicalities and objectives of the role to be able to correctly identify relevant and transferable skills that will enable a candidate to excel. We will never underestimate the importance of a match to company culture and the value of chemistry between the candidate and the hiring manager.

This is just one of the areas where Cobalt really shines. The Cobalt team have high levels of emotional intelligence and an innate ability to interpret what the client really wants, translate that into what the perfect candidate will look like and then find them, attract them to the opportunity and assess them against those criteria.

For every candidate there is a ‘push’ and a ‘pull’ when seeking a new role. The ‘push’ is all of the reasons they might consider leaving their current role and the ‘pull’ is all of the reasons why they will consider yours as their next step. Our tailored briefing document and sales message will be created around this information, designed to entice senior talent with the right mindset to your roles. We will also ensure it includes all of the standard information around the company, culture, key role objectives, duties and responsibilities, reporting lines up and down, remuneration and expected interview process.

Cobalt creates compelling messages that are attractive to passive candidates and ensures there is a consistent as well as impassioned brand message in the marketplace.

We are holistic in our approach and will explore every connection, every referral, every route, every portal and every database to find the best possible person for you, not just the best we could find on a given database. And we don’t stop looking until you have found your perfect person; so if the first shortlist doesn’t work out we will be able to follow up quickly with a second.

Depending on the specific role, we may review hundreds of candidates before identifying a suitable quantity of applicants to approach and pre-qualify.

As candidates express interest in the opportunity, we evaluate each using the interview questionnaire created at stage 2. This will contain a list of relevant competency-based questions to assess the candidate against the role requirements and the cultural fit for the client. Cobalt ensures that every candidate is expertly interviewed either face to face or via video interview and assessed, measured and scored against this same set of criteria.

We always keep candidates updated throughout with honest and constructive feedback. If they have been rejected at any stage, whether it’s a CV that doesn’t match the criteria or an interview that hasn’t quite hit the mark, we will share this feedback with them.

Typically, Cobalt will present clients with a shortlist once all interviews have been conducted to ensure that only the top 3-4 go forward. Any exceptional talent that is identified during the process will be fast-tracked immediately.

The CVs will be presented along with a detailed brief about the candidate, why we feel they are a good match and all the basics around availability, package requirements and any non-compete clauses that could impact a hire.

Cobalt will provide full support in the coordination and confirmation of all interviews and will always seek detailed interview feedback from our clients, which we will feedback constructively to our candidates.

It is imperative that we work closely with our clients to ensure the offer is presented effectively. Cobalt will assist in composing and extending the offer and in negotiating any changes. Once the offer is extended, we stay in constant touch with the candidate to facilitate a prompt acceptance and the earliest possible starting date.

Resignation can be a stressful experience for candidates. We work closely with them during this delicate period, especially since current employer counter-offers are commonplace in this “candidate driven” environment.

Following resignation, we will support and communicate with our candidates throughout their notice period to ensure they are not swayed by other opportunities or last-minute counter-offers by their existing employers.

Once the candidate has started with you we will continue to monitor their performance to ensure that our clients and candidates are thoroughly satisfied. We will do this until at least 6 months and often beyond to ensure that things are progressing well from both sides. It is important that an effective onboarding program be established with the client and that if any concerns surface, that they are dealt with swiftly.