JobsFair.ie

Expect Talent - Interview with Samantha Rathling

Interview with Samantha Rathling, Managing Director of Expect Talent

Samantha Rathling is a dynamic entrepreneur who set up her business with a mission to change people’s opinions of the recruitment industry. Expect Talent have a unique approach to recruitment and Samantha gives an insight in this interview into why she chose this career path and what makes her business so unique.

Expect Talent was set up in 2005, when Samantha relocated here to Ireland having lived in the Netherlands for 3 years prior to this.  Samantha, originally from the UK had set herself a goal, to have her own business by the age of 30 and at the age of 28 Expect Talent was established in Cork. 

 Having worked in recruitment in the Netherlands, and with a background in Sales & Marketing in the FMCG sector, Samantha found that there was a gap in the Irish market for a specialist recruitment company, specialising in the multilingual sector and operating in a totally unique way.  Samantha explains how…

What is it that Expect Talent do differently to other Recruitment Companies in relation to candidates?

“When I set up my business, I wrote down a long list of all of the things that really frustrated me about the industry from both a candidate and a client perspective.  I decided to do the exact opposite to all of my competitors and that is why over 95% of our new business comes from recommendation, referral and word of mouth. 

"Candidates experience a personal service and we are very proud that we are able to secure a client interview for over 90% of the talented professionals submitted to our clients. We never submit a CV to a client without the explicit written permission of a candidate and our candidates receive full and detailed feedback on your application within 24 - 48 hours."

What is it that Expect Talent do differently to other Recruitment Companies in relation to Clients?

One of the key ways in which we are different is that we provide our clients with a unique and detailed interview profile with any submitted CV, we only ever send a candidate if we believe they are a strong contender and we guarantee never to send more than 3 CV’s for one position.  One of the main differences is that our recruitment team are not paid on a commission basis, they work with our clients to find the best match, not sending CV’s to meet targets or not right for the position. 

We train all of our consultants in house and we never hire anyone from the recruitment industry, as there are always too many bad habits!  Our reputation is so strong that we have not had to make a cold call in over 2 years and we are very proud of this.

What sectors do you Recruit for and where?

We recruit nationwide from our Cork office.  We have clients in Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Kerry and all over Munster.  From the very small business to multinationals it is very broad coverage in Customer Service, Sales, IT, Marketing, HR & Training, Engineering, Administration, Finance and Hospitality to name a few.

What are clients saying about you? 

We have many client and candidate testimonials, a client of mine recently said,  

“The best recruiter I've worked with! Samantha has the rare capacity to instantly grasp the personal and professional attributes required for the most demanding of roles. She combines the personal service, and accountability, of a small business, with the uncanny knack of finding candidates of the highest calibre for a range of roles. An excellent judge of character, with superb attention to detail, I can highly recommend Samantha to anyone wishing to find the right people for their business, without the normal pain involved in recruiting!” 

Michael Kane, Head of Sales.

What is your key to Success?

I live and breathe the philosophy of “Givers Gain”.  I am involved in the organisation BNI (Business Network International), and I am now an Assistant Director in Cork with BNI.  In the last 3 years I have quickly learnt networking and referral skills, and this has taught me that if you help others around you to get more business then people are very happy to help you back.  What goes around comes around and this is exactly the approach I take in both work and life.  And of course hard work!!!

What is your biggest challenge? 

My biggest challenge at the moment in growing my business, driving the company forwards is really just juggling everything.  I have a gorgeous little boy, Oscar who will be 2 years old in December, so I have my hands full with him and the business,  it can be tough to fit everything in.  I could not have built my business up in such a short space of time without a great support network around me, including my team, my family and my business referral partners who look out for opportunities for me all the time, as I do for them. 

What about your team?

My team are just brilliant!  I am in business with my father Chris, my Mum also works in the business part time (when she is not looking after Oscar!) and then my administration team and recruiters are all so dedicated and brilliant at what they do it makes it an absolute pleasure to go into the office.  We expect to take on more Recruiters in 2009 and have plans to expand into new areas.  Watch this space!

Describe your job as Managing Director of Expect Talent in five words.

Exciting, Challenging, Hard work, Fun and International 

Describe yourself in five words.

Ambitious, Extraverted, Driven, Giving and Results-Oriented

What is the best bit about running Expect Talent?

Being your own boss.  Seeing the company grow, knowing that you have a direct input on the success of the business.  We have come a long way in a very short space of time and for that I have to thank my clients and candidates for giving us the opportunity to work with them.  I still love  informing the client that the candidate that they really want to hire has accepted the job and there is nothing better than being able to ring the candidate to tell them that they have just landed their dream job, the reactions are just brilliant and normally people scream down the phone at you with delight!

What advice would you give to candidates out there who are interested in working Recruitment or starting their own business?

If you are thinking of starting your own business, my advice would be to follow your dream and focus on what you do best.  By putting the support structure in place when you start, you can ensure that you can focus on your core strengths and become successful at what you do. 

My weakness is accounting and finance, hence the reason I am in business with a very experienced finance professional (my father) who has over 20 years experience in the management and financial control of small and large businesses.  He also brings a wealth of knowledge to the business having spent many years recruiting staff as a hiring manager on the client side.  This means that I can focus on sales, marketing and recruitment, developing and growing the business in the Irish market. 

If you want to know more about Expect Talent you can contact Samantha Rathling directly on 0214209050 or email her on sam@expect.ie.