Having worked at board level in Human Resources for several luxury and premium brand multinational companies across a wide spectrum of industries in different geographies including the UAE, I was keen to bring talent acquisition best practices to the region. During my tenure as an HR Director in the Gulf region, I realized that recruitment and headhunting was very different here than in other parts of the world because of the multicultural diversity and business practices in the region. As I have enjoyed an amazing career in Human Resources, I took the opportunity to leave the corporate world and with a leap of faith started Plum Jobs and Plum Jobs Executive in 2012, says, CEO, Deepa Sud.
Deepa’s commitment when she started Plum Jobs was to create a boutique consultancy that would have mutually respectful long term relationships as an HR business partner for their clients. This approach is to invest time to understand the client’s business, their key challenges and advise clients on the most appropriate long term talent acquisition method and assist them in finding these resources. Whilst this has been a new approach for some clients, over time the clients have begun to appreciate the effort and investment of time for both parties in getting this right from the onset. It has not been easy on occasions but it has been rewarding. Plum Jobs have now become the one stop solution for organisations ranging from startups, SME and SMBs, local and international corporations and government entities. One of their major USP which their clients love, is that their candidates have regional experience which allows both the client and candidate experience to be hassle free and the risk of failure is mitigated. Thus, the success rate of candidate retention has been above 95%. Plum Jobs continues to successfully grow from their client and candidate referrals.
The list is endless but to name 3 of their most accomplished projects have been building an eCommerce team for a startup that allowed them to become a significant brand in the region, building a commercial team for an SME whose profit is now more than AED 12M in 3 years and headhunting the entire board and mid management team for a multi site healthcare institution.
Plum Jobs has always believed in investing in core assets and remaining frugal in the rest. Since inception, they have built a quality candidate database from direct applications and have never purchased any job portal databases. They work with candidates who are actively seeking employment and all the candidates in their database are prescreened so they only retain quality candidates. They keep the database updated with regular communication with candidates as they realize this is a very dynamic environment. A sophisticated applicant tracking system has minimized the need for administration which allows the team more time to engage in person with their clients and candidates. They provide only 2-3 CVs to the clients for each role and therefore need a good database for a speedy turnaround. Around 70% of Plum Jobs introductions have been by providing only 1 CV which has been ideal for the client. They retain their contact with the client and candidate throughout the recruitment process, facilitate onboarding and ensure that the candidates and clients have both settled into the relationship smoothly.
CEO, Deepa Sud says, one of the three challenges has been working with business owners and Human Resources departments where they feel that placing online job advertisements to connect with potential candidates through job portals is the most cost effective way of recruitment. Over the last 12 months, they have now engaged with a majority of these organisations as their efforts have been expensive and futile due to the quality of the candidates and volume of responses which most are irrelevant.
The other challenge has been dealing with the sheer volume of candidates that apply for jobs. Unfortunately, the online recruitment model encourages candidates to make excessive applications without reading them or considering their suitability. Since Plum Jobs review all the applications that they receive, they have been able to filter out only the most appropriate candidates that they want to represent and work with.
A significant number of candidates always say they want to work for multinationals or large companies because they believe those offer the best opportunities. Often however, their startups, SME and SMB clients are the best employers because they offer great opportunities to learn, develop skills and create career opportunities that perhaps would never be available in a larger organisation.
Plum Jobs boasts of more than 1,700 successful partnerships between candidates and clients.
Their philosophy is that the industry and geography reach has no boundaries and that they engage with organizations on how they recruit and strengthen their people capabilities by successfully demonstrating that recruitment is an investment and not a cost.
The foundation of Plum Jobs is based on the “back to basics” of recruitment which is talking with their clients and candidates rather than through marketing. They believe in simplicity, clarity and transparency which goes a long way in life especially in today’s world where everyone is bombarded with all types of communication. Their vision is being known in the GCC region for their professional, mature and fun approach to talent acquisition – whether it is reactive recruitment or strategic searches.
Given today’s dynamic business environment, organisations need to review their operating model and enhance their management capabilities to be competitive and profitable and Plum Jobs has seen a significant increase in organisations engaging with them since the middle of 2016 as clients realize the value of employing experienced candidates outweighs the cost of agency recruitment and their mission is to help business leaders proactively create a talent pipeline shifting from a reactive recruitment approach to succession planning.
They have 2 divisions – Plum Jobs which is focused on recruitment up to middle management and Plum Jobs Executive which caters to local and international “C-Suite” executive talent acquisition. In addition, they provide HR consulting services such as developing HR metrics and dashboards, employee performance frameworks, defining and realigning organisation structures and developing strategic succession plans to identify candidates for leadership and management roles.
They offer services across a wide spectrum of sectors, which are the main drivers of the regional economy such as construction, facilities management, trading and distribution, business services, engineering, energy, strategy and business transformation, healthcare and pharmaceutical management, telecommunications, marketing, media and technology.
Deep Sud states that commitment, business philosophy, understating of businesses recruitment requirements and talent availability in the region is Plum Jobs main competitive edge. While it is easy to submit CVs, their approach is to be fair to both the clients and candidates and only promise what they can deliver. They have turned down assignments and advised clients on alternatives options when they believe what the client is asking for is unrealistic in terms of skills, experience or remuneration.
A few right candidates can be the difference between survival, thriving and failure. Plum Jobs become clients’ go-to recruitment specialist because they cover roles from C-Suite, middle management, technical and support roles because they understand their organisation, culture, industry, market and business vision.
They are proactive in their approach as they do not approach passive candidates or search through multiple databases which are also available to the public. Their strength is the qualified candidate pool and their ability to attract experienced and qualified local candidates.
Plum Jobs fee structure reflects their clients’ budget which makes partnering with them a value driven recruitment solution.
They believe their approach has already withstood the test of time in the online recruitment revolution and Deepa says, the pendulum will swing back to a hybrid approach of online recruitment combined with head hunting agencies is the future.
Their simple approach which is pragmatic will continue to dominate the recruitment market and eventually the recruitment industry will need to start to follow their steps of getting to know the client, their recruitment challenges and requirements and then advice on the role, skills requirements, candidate profile and remuneration based on the market / industry intelligence to meet the organisations’ growth strategy.
Plum Jobs is founded on a unique combination of HR leadership and talent acquisition which has positioned them to be recognized by their clients as a business partner that focuses on the bigger picture of attracting and retaining talent, verifying the competencies and integrity of the candidates and provides a 360-degree recruitment solution.
Plum Jobs journey so far has been an incredible story of success through strong relationships and one of the major contributors to this is keeping technology to a minimum. Whilst technology innovation may enable a wider reach of candidates, this does not necessarily mean the quality of the candidates improves. In fact, she believes it is the opposite – their ability to position their clients as employers of choice because they understand their business and HR strategies allows them to make informed decisions on the best fit for both the client and candidate and this can only be done through remaining human throughout the entire recruitment process.
Majority of organisations operate in a very competitive space and either the importance of technology based marketing and branding or budget constraints hold them back from attracting the best talent. Plum Jobs credibility and trusting relationship with candidates allows them to position their clients’ brands as employers of choice.
I am frequently approached by regional recruitment agencies to partner with them or consider a merger or acquisition and I think that is a testament to our brand and success, Deepa says proudly.
