Marcy Whelan has more than 15 years of recruiting and HR experience. Her prior experience with another agency, coupled with significant time in talent acquisition with Citi, Edward Jones, give Marcy an exceptional understanding of employment from the client and agency perspectives. Marcy is passionate about her work and committed to her clients’ success. She is regarded by clients and team members as a highly organized, hardworking professional with the ability to develop and nurture critical internal and external relationships. Here, she describes her approach to creating the best solutions for clients, as well as industry trends, and what gives ROI Search Partners an edge.
How do your personality traits impact the way you do your work?
I feel that what I do contributes to the broader society. My goal is to use my skills to help better someone’s life and better a company’s existence. At the core of who I am, I like to help people and companies succeed, so being a recruiter is very natural for me.
What is the most important component of finding the right match?
Making a cultural match. There’s skill set and then there’s cultural fit. The cultural fit is often what retains key talent for the long term. What I do is get to the core of that – what the company’s culture is – and how that fits with the candidate. Because of that, we are better able to consistently make long term matches.
What have you learned about identifying a company’s culture?
Listening to the talk in the community, and asking the right questions of the client and the candidate are critical. Sometimes those are passive questions and observations. Studying folks in the organization with tenure – sometimes that comes in the form of hires that we have made who have been extremely successful – and knowing their background and how they mesh with the organization.
What is the most important component of a successful hiring process?
When we have committed and transparent clients, we better understand their need, thus ensuring that our candidates are really on target.
How does your firm identify the needs of clients in a way that is different or better than your competitors?
We are highly transparent and focus on quality over quantity. We set ourselves apart by recognizing that quality comes first. Agencies often hold their recruiters to very unrealistic internal quotas which can ultimately lead to recruiters ‘throwing resumes against the wall’, hoping that something sticks with the client. This can result in more work for the client, not less. We tend to submit three to five targeted candidates because our only metrics are about client and candidate satisfaction.
What advantages does ROI Search Partners have over internal recruiters?
Many times, internal recruiting partners are working on a higher volume of requisitions. They are able to cover active candidates, but there’s a gap in passive talent. As a boutique agency, we’re able to provide quality candidates, both passive and active. We focus on quality, only working a select number of positions at a time. For that reason, our ability to dive deeper into these searches is very strong.
What strategies does ROI Search Partners have to stay relevant in a world of rapid technological change?
We always have to be aware of the way that technological change impacts our business model. However, machine learning, tests, and artificial intelligence cannot replace the critical role that recruiters like us have. Our institutional and community knowledge paired with our personal touch makes us unique. For example, when I look at assessment tools – we’re working on a CFO search and will be finishing it soon – I have had clients that use the assessment tool to make their hiring decision. But that should be no more than a third of the hiring decision. It’s a great tool and an important component to consider. But when you take a computer-generated tool and use it alone to make your hiring decision, you lose so much personal communication that you can very easily make the wrong decision.
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