JBAndrews: Gaining a fuller picture into recruiting executives

JBAndrews are experts at matching executives with the perfect roles. However, they wanted to be able to ascertain a better picture of candidates before placing them, to ensure their clients and applicants are happy.

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Using Thrive, they were able to tailor their process to each individual role and prove their credibility — so much so, that they have retained all clients who used the Thrive platform in their hiring process.

Who is JBAndrews?

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JBAndrews is a global executive search firm based in Leeds and Dubai.

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They first started using Thrive in November 2023.

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What did they want to achieve?

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An added layer of data to support their clients’ hiring decisions.

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What were their challenges?

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As an executive search firm, JBAndrews is placing many top-tier candidates in a wide range of companies. As recruitment experts, they are excellent at picking applicants that truly suit the role, as well as advising their clients. “Something that we massively pride ourselves on as a business is finding unicorn candidates that are happy within the roles because the clients that we work with provide good packages,” said Jeremiah Bavington, Head of Brand and Marketing at JBAndrews.

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“We massively pride ourselves on finding unicorn candidates.”

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“However, before Thrive, we didn’t have any data-based points,” Jeremiah elaborated. Therefore, JBAndrews felt as though they needed some added data to increase their credibility and be able to assess, with greater specificity, the candidates they’re sending through to their clients.

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Solution: Thrive’s market-leading assessments

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JBAndrews was then approached by Thrive. “Previously, we occasionally did psychometric testing for our clients, but it would be just the normal online psychometric testing,” Jeremiah explained. However, engaging with the Thrive platform revealed the benefits their clients could gain from using it, and they decided to give it a go: “we thought that the platform would actually serve our clients quite well, and we wanted to be able to offer it as a third-party service within our general recruitment services to our clients.”

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“The feedback that we get off the back of the Thrive assessments is key in how our clients continue their selection process.”

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Incorporating Thrive into their retained and unretained services, JBAndrews now offer the Thrive assessments to clients as part of their services. “We’re almost like a facilitator,” Jeremiah explained the process. “If our client has, for example, a Sales Director role, we would set up that campaign for them on Thrive, add our candidates into the platform, they’d fill out the assessment, and then we’ll present that data back to our clients and advise them, using the data that Thrive has given us, how they should proceed and what questions they should be asking to further examine those individuals.”

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“The feedback that you get off the back of the assessments is key in how our clients continue their selection process,” Jeremiah elaborated. “We would introduce Thrive at the final stage or shortlist stage within our clients’ processes, and then they will have at least one more touch point with the candidates where they can ask some of the recommended questions.”

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The results

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“The insight that Thrive provides helps to get a fuller picture of whether somebody would actually be suitable for a role.”

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Increased credibility with a data point

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While recruitment experience can speak volumes, interviews and screening calls can only tell you so much about a candidate. “An interview can be a bit of a performance sometimes, and this will be the same across the board, which is why Thrive is beneficial,” Jeremiah explained. “People can tell you what you want to hear. You’d hope, especially for our applicants, as we deal with executive level individuals, their CV will be a representation of their seniority and how good they are within a role. But still, people are able to bend the truth. Having some data and the insight that Thrive provides helps to get that fuller picture into whether somebody would actually be suitable for a role.”

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“Thrive strengthens our position as consultants.”

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JBAndrews wanted to back their recommendations to their clients with real data. “For us, Thrive is an added service. It’s another level of detail that we would be unable to give our clients otherwise,” Jeremiah elaborated. “We could still place the same candidates into those vacancies, but to have that level of detail on how their personalities and competencies actually align with the job they’re applying for, to have the data in front of us to back that up, and then also recommendations on how to take those processes further, is information we wouldn’t have had without Thrive.”

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“In the scenarios in which our clients have used Thrive, the feedback has been very positive and they really appreciate this extra data,” he continued. “Thrive strengthens our position as consultants, which is what we would sell ourselves as to our clients, and it also assists our clients because they are making more informed decisions.”

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Tailored recruitment for specific roles

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JBAndrews sporadically used psychometric assessments before, however, they found them less useful than they’d like. The Thrive platform allowed them to be more specific, which is essential when dealing with more senior roles. “My favourite function within the platform is the job-specific questions,” Jeremiah confirmed. “I really like that for each different role, the platform would provide a unique set of questions to measure somebody based on their ability to perform within that certain position. Then, of course, the recommendations that the report gives on how to further question someone based on the areas they fall short in.”

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“One day we might be hiring a Sales Director and the next day it might be a far more technical role. The difference that you can get from the results based on those questions is really valuable to our clients and also to us,” he added.

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“The role-specific assessments strengthen our package and create better results.”

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“If somebody has scored abnormally low we would obviously flag that to our clients and try to explain the reasons why that might be, perhaps where they’re lacking. Then, we would advise them on how to test whether that really is the case based on various different questions they can ask within an interview setting or even certain scenarios they could put that individual to see whether that’s something they are actually lacking in,” Jeremiah recalled. “We’ve had some really good feedback from this, not only in strengthening our package as a solutions provider to our clients, but also just within the results that come off the back of that, and the feedback that Thrive provides to then assist within interview stages.”

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Retained all of their clients

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For JBAndrews, the Thrive assessments help to provide a more holistic view of a candidate, but this should be balanced with their client’s perception of a candidate. “Ultimately, we want our clients to be confident in the people they end up hiring, and if they do have favourites within the process, we want to understand why that is, because they’re the ones that have met them in person, and they’re the ones who know the job these individuals would be taking on,” Jeremiah explained. “The data we get through Thrive allows them to have quite a good whole picture for each individual, and then also the insight to take that further to make the right decision.”

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“We’ve had repeat business from every client that has used Thrive with us.”

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This approach has proved extremely valuable to clients: “we’ve had repeat business from every client that has used Thrive with us so far, so I would say it has definitely helped,” Jeremiah summed up. However, it’s not just the clients who benefit from the Thrive platform — but also the candidates. “Our retention with candidates is extremely high,” he added. “So, feedback on the whole is very positive for the individuals that we place, which Thrive directly contributes towards.”

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Interested to hear how Thrive can help you produce similar results? Book a demo with us today.

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