Financial Services

Our established Legal function noticed a gap in the market where lawyers were looking to move in-house to Financial Services while the banks were looking for lawyers from strong backgrounds. Unfortunately, their HR teams had no specialist legal knowledge and were relying on job ads, which don’t reach the top talent. They were also wasting a lot of time on candidates that ultimately weren’t the right fit. As we had a pool of high-calibre talent ready to move in-house; in-depth market knowledge; and work in collaboration with our other specialist teams, we were able to quickly become a one-stop shop for many FS clients ahead of our competitors.

Much has changed over the years, making it even harder for FS businesses to secure the strongest talent. Ongoing regulatory changes have increased the demand for certain skillsets; the talent pools are smaller; increased private practice salaries have made it tough for in-house roles to remain competitive; and candidates have many more career options and different priorities today. Our clients have needed to recruit and develop more junior talent, while changing with the times to remain an attractive prospect and retain their brand reputation.

Having supplied Legal talent to the Financial Services sector for 20 years, with longstanding relationships with some of its leading brands, we understand that need to evolve. We foster relationships with our candidates, not just to help them progress, but because they often become our clients later. This regular market interaction means we are up to date with trends and are seen by our FS clients as trusted advisors in the space, rather than a transactional agency. We provide a full service on a range of roles, whatever our clients’ talent needs may be.

Our in-house design studio develops bespoke co-branded advertising campaigns to raise awareness of your search within the right networks. These campaigns, which can consist of individual adverts or an end-to-end multi-media campaign across several weeks, attract valuable and hard-to-find talent.

Advertising alone cannot be relied upon to provide the best shortlist of candidates. We use a dual-sourcing approach that combines advertising with headhunting to ensure full coverage of the market and increase our chance of securing the best candidates.

We'll run an advertising campaign and screen all applicants, whilst headhunting in the background. All relevant candidates who respond to advertising or who are generated through headhunting will be invited to meet our experienced consultants to discuss the role in more detail. We’ll assess their commitment to the role and screen them against specific criteria, both in terms of experience and personality.

Key features:

• Dedicated marketing expertise to represent your brand in a consistent and impactful way

• Adverts will feature across multiple platforms including relevant Job Boards, LinkedIn, Email and other social media platforms

• Engage with passive candidates who are keen to understand more about the opportunity

• Fully vetted shortlist of the most suitable candidates

• Flexible pricing solutions to meet your needs

Why you’ll love it:

• Tap into a wider talent pool across multiple marketing channels

• Raise your brand profile in the market

• Increase job response rates with the right candidates

• Adds weighting to the overall search campaign, to help you fill roles much faster

• Flexible pricing: more cost-effective than advertising your own roles

​Key features:

• We source and secure high calibre talent using innovative, customised search methods

• On-off flexibility to suit your needs

• We can deliver a “full package” from resourcing high-quality candidate to contactor care and compliance

• Ongoing brand awareness campaigns via our headhunting schemes

• Weekly or bi-weekly meetings to discuss progress, candidates, and feedback

Why you’ll love it:

• We can accommodate the differing needs of your business over time

• Long term support and advice on your talent management strategy

• Easier to compare the quality of candidates across the market, so you can make more informed decisions

• Option to request a search for a specific role or to be kept regularly informed of relevant people becoming available in your market

• No commitment to hire unless you really like a candidate

Key features:

• Flexible pricing options to suit your needs: our standard rate card provides a clear and transparent pricing structure

• Access to our global community of contractors with cutting edge expertise

• On average, our contractors are onboarded in just nine days and extended seven times, with the average tenure being 22 months

• All contractors are pre-screened and vetted as requested

• An experienced account team for the project duration and a dedicated account manager to provide a single point of contact

Why you’ll love it:

• Ability to rapidly ramp up and scale down resources as required

• Cost-efficient way to run projects without compromising on quality

• Full support to resource your projects across multiple verticals and geographic locations

• Minimal overall impact to your hiring manager community and current resources

• We can onboard the best talent quickly, speeding up your delivery and return on investment

​

​Key features:

• One specialist point of contact at Hydrogen

• Using innovative, customised search methods, we source and secure the market’s best talent

• Searches conducted by a consultant and dedicated research team, to ensure a thorough search and all relevant candidates in the market are spoken to

• Weekly updates on the search

• Flexible rates depending on the role requirements

Why you’ll love it:

• Save time having to manage different agencies and numerous points of contact

• More control over your brand message in the market as candidates don’t get approached multiple times for the same role

• Receive better quality candidates for the role, as we’re not simply in a race to find the best people, which is often detrimental to the thoroughness and quality of a search

• More cost effective than a non-exclusive solution

​Key features:

• You have one specialist point of contact at Hydrogen

• Using innovative, customised search methods, we source and secure the market’s best talent

• Searches conducted by a consultant and dedicated research team, to ensure a thorough search and all relevant candidates in the market are spoken to

• Weekly updates on your search

• Option to conduct market mapping and report on your brand perception in the market

• Staggered pricing solutions, in line with different hiring phases

Why you’ll love it:

• You gain preferred access to the best pools of active and passive candidates in your market

• Working exclusively with us, we will control your message in the market and promote your brand successfully

• We’ll work to tighter deadlines due to the increased resources that can be committed to the search

• Ability to spread the cost across a number of weeks or months

The challenge:

With GDPR implementation looming, plus a strategic drive on innovative technologies underway, the Global Data Privacy & Digital legal team at a leading bank needed to significantly increase their headcount. Candidates with the specialist experience required were among the scarcest and most in demand in the market, so it would be a challenge for them to recruit in numbers. They approached Hydrogen to produce a multi-role campaign for candidates who met their criteria at a wide range of levels, from NQ to Deputy GC level. The candidates needed excellent academics, private practice training and in-house experience, coupled with being the right culture fit.

Our solution:

We conducted a targeted, discreet search campaign and soon identified around 400 relevant candidates who were a potentially good fit with the business. We met and screened all those that best matched the criteria and then narrowed it down further for culture fit. We ultimately presented a shortlist of 11 CV’s who we felt were the best fit – both technically and culturally and the majority of those were interviewed.

The outcome:

• The client enjoyed a 60% growth in headcount.

• 50% of first-round interviews led to successful placements - our accuracy in screening saving considerable time for the hiring manager.

• Our client was so happy with the results that Hydrogen was exclusively instructed on another role to fill in the team.

​

The challenge:

Our client needed to make a critical hire into their in-house Legal team and wanted to use the opportunity to showcase their brand in the relevant markets for future hires too. They wanted to produce a high-impact, exciting advertising campaign to attract the best, most suitable candidates in the market, but had neither the time nor resources. They were also concerned about the expense of direct advertising with no guarantee of success given their lack of targeted network.

Our solution:

As part of an exclusive mandate agreeing specific outcomes and deliverables, we worked with the client to hone the message before our in-house marketing team produced an eye-catching campaign, highlighting the key aspects of the vacancy. We targeted the advertising at a specific talent pool, knowing that we have a solid track record with this type of campaign with a highly engaged following.

The outcome:

• The client interviewed our entire shortlist such was the calibre and hired one candidate.

• We saved the client a significant amount of time and money by including the campaign in the mandate and producing it in-house.

• Additionally, the campaign boosted our client’s exposure in the target space and resulted in a higher level of engagement with the top talent in their area.

​

The challenge:

Our client, a leading international bank, was looking to recruit a specialist Legal Counsel from a particularly small talent pool. They had previously been advised to instruct multiple agencies on the search, which had backfired. As the talent pool is so small, strong candidates had been approached several times about the role by different agencies, which sent out a negative message to the market that the client was struggling to fill the role. Secondees in the teams were also being approached about this confidential role, which equally did not look good.

Our solution:

The client chose to work with us exclusively so that we could conduct a targeted and discreet search within our network. First, we took an in-depth briefing on the role and analysed their team culture to gain as much information as possible. Next, we conducted a bespoke search, only targeting those candidates with the most relevant experience, maintaining a consistent message to the market about the search. We delivered a shortlist of the best suited candidates in the market, who were met and screened within two weeks.

The outcome:

• The search resulted in a smoother and faster process and a successful placement.

• The client saved time and money by dealing with a single agency.

• The client was able to maintain their strong team reputation and brand within a small and well-networked market.

• They have since worked with us exclusively on several more roles, which we have all placed successfully, and they have recommended us to other hiring managers across the

​