The client’s challenge

A BCorp organisation that works to combat fuel poverty and delivers turnkey retrofit programmes for vulnerable and low-income households approached VIQU Energy, as they required specialist energy professionals with niche skills, who also shared the same values and ethical foundations as the organisation.

They had previously struggled to find candidates within Project Management and Compliance who had the right unique combination of skills and temperament. Due to working with vulnerable individuals, the company believed it was vital for their employees to have the same ethics and values as the company in order to represent the organisation well.

The client did not have the budget for an internal recruitment function, so VIQU Energy proposed becoming an extension of their business. This entailed understanding the organisation’s workforce, in addition to their culture and values, with the goal of being able to identify truly great candidates that aligned with the organisation.

Actions taken by VIQU Energy

VIQU Energy’s Account Manager built a close relationship with the hiring managers and leadership team, making regular site visits to gauge the job requirements and immerse themselves in the company culture and values. The VIQU Energy team quickly got up to speed with the organisation’s requirements and were able to find suitable professionals in their network and assess whether they would be a good cultural fit.

The team created a list of standardised questions, agreed upon by the company, which they utilised during the vetting stage to understand the candidate’s motivations, whether they would represent the company’s values and ethics well, as well as assessing soft and hard skills. This allowed the VIQU Energy team to quickly identify candidates who were both a good fit in terms of skills competencies, cultural alignment and representing the company well. VIQU Energy’s Director, Joseph Hewitt, became so confident and comfortable in knowing what the organisation required that he stated that within the first 5 minutes of call with a candidate he could tell if they were suited to the organisation’s environment and culture.

The outcomes

In the 3+ years the VIQU Energy team has been working with the organisation, they have built a close relationship, with VIQU Energy being the recruiter of choice for their specialist energy roles. Over this period, VIQU Energy have helped double the company’s headcount, placing 38 roles and reducing their time-to-hire from 55 days to only 19 days, a reduction of 65%.

By having such great insights into who would work well for the company, 89% of CVs put forward to the business were interviewed and 33% were offered permanent roles within the organisation. These efficiencies facilitated by the VIQU Energy team have saved the organisation significant proportions of workforce budgets over the years, which has then been put to greater use supporting the organisation’s efforts with low-income households and vulnerable members of the community.