To Niche or Not to Niche

When referred to a new client, we’re often asked, “What is your niche?” Because so many recruiting firms have a narrow focus, the expectation is that to do something well, a recruiting agency must focus on one specific area of recruitment. Most commonly, these types of search firms specialize by industry (fintech candidates, manufacturing recruiting, etc), function (Product Management candidates, Sales & Marketing roles, etc), a geographic region (New York City recruitment, Salt Lake City candidate pool, etc), or even all of the aforementioned (Operations candidates for the Manufacturing industry in Salt Lake City). While this type of specialization has some benefits (a tightly knit network of talent or a bench of active candidates), it also restricts the ability to be impactful outside a minimal scope.

As usual, we have a different perspective and entirely different approach.

Our thought process is (always) rooted in a holistic mindset. This requires a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ business, culture, and industry and how their teams collaborate. As we’ve worked across numerous industries and discovered and documented roles from Product and Engineering to Sales, Marketing, Operations, and more, we’ve strengthened our business acumen and expanded our networks. Because our clients’ teams work cross-functionally, so do we. Understanding how teams work together and what industries have parallels, we leverage our breadth of knowledge and extensive networks to not just “make great hires” but provide immensely more value to our clients and support their teams’ growth across the organization.

This discovery-based approach makes us an ideal partner for companies undergoing transformation, modernization, or a turnaround. Taking time to understand how a business operates at its current, along with its ideal future state, puts us in a unique position to help the hiring team in a much deeper way than simply sourcing candidates based on a static list of requirements. With this knowledge, we build out the ideal candidate profiles (including industry expertise, functional experience, and personality) that can navigate the transition through to the future vision.

Time and time again, we have placed vital leaders to help facilitate company transformations across multiple industries and disciplines. In industries including fintech/payments, medical devices, manufacturing, and technology/software, we have worked across Operations, Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Marketing, and FP&A.

We’ve found that by understanding the whole business, its team, culture, and goals through an in-depth discovery process, our niche is facilitating business transformation, supported by data that demonstrates our shorter time-to-fill, higher success rate, and far fewer candidate interviews than clients expect.

Elevate Your Talent Acquisition with One Eighty Collective

Looking to make impactful hiring decisions that shape your company's future? We can help. Whether you're a tech startup, a mid-sized company, or a large firm, our relationship-centric approach and collaborative process will fuel your transformation. Contact us now to get started!