This week at Creativepool, we're delving deep into the world of creative recruitment. This is the first in an ongoing Podcaset series of Recruiter Insight, which will each feature founder, Michael Tomes, going head-to-head with a major player in the industry to get to the core of what creative recruitment means in 2016. We'll be examining what the top agencies are looking for when it comes to both fresh and experienced talent, and what you should be doing in order to get noticed.
“The potential hires that stick in my mind are the ones that I hear from on a regular basis and show a genuine interest in us”
Here we have Michael talking to Leon Dowle from WCRS, an agency with an eclectic talent base made up of specialists from fields as diverse as TV and Twitter, to mobile, games and music, all with a definite slant towards digital. Leon serves as Talent Partner at the agency's London office in a role which revolves around sourcing the most exceptional candidates for freelance and permanent positions across the realms of creative, design, account management, project management, strategy/planning, tech, TV production and support.
Leon, who came to WCRS last April after an 18 month stint as Creative Recruiter at the creative-only recruitment company, Apple&Ink, begins by giving us a full rundown on his responsibilities at the agency, before delving deeper into the recent history of the agency, which has been growing steadily of late, especially in the US. This is thanks in no small part, of course, to the fortunes its parent company, the Engine Group, which was bought out by the Chicago-based Lake Capital firm back in 2014. Leon's background is predominantly in headhunting and recruitment, but he made the decision last year to take his knowledge as a headhunter and see what he could do with it at an agency, where he could feel a part of something bigger.
“We're always trying to build a sustainable pool of talent that we can tap into as and when roles open up”
Leon goes on to discuss his recruitment work across the world for the agency before locking into what we all want to know; how to get a job at WCRS. His thoughts on the agency's “Big Break” and “Engine Graduate Scheme 2016” seem to suggest an agency big on netting the best and brightest talent fresh from university, but he also stresses that they are certainly not shy when it comes to hiring middleweight talent, though they tend to pick many of their roles from specialist recruitment agencies. It's a frank discussion that reveals a great deal about, not only about the agency's recruitment process, but the creative recruitment process in general. Stay tuned for more from this podcast series.
