Commercial and Sales Sector

From Telesales to Sales Directors, Harvard Associates have helped a variety of clients grow their Sales teams by getting to clearly understand our clients' needs. Our team have in-depth knowledge of the commercial sales sector. We work with a variety of sales professionals at all levels across the UK, finding them jobs matching their skills, experience and personalities.



Some examples of the types of vacancies we cover and have placed within the sector are:

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) – various positions
Business Development Executives and Managers
Sales Director
Bid Managers
Direct/field sales Executives and Managers
IT sales
Regional Sales Executives
Account Managers
Events sales

Data and Technology Sector

New research has revealed that organisations across the UK were seeking more IT staff than ever before in 2016, with job postings in the sector increasing by 10% on the previous year.



The analysis found that throughout 2016 there was more than 1.3m IT job postings, which would equate to more than 1 in 10 of all UK job advertisements being for technology positions. The size of the UK technology workforce has grown year on year, increasing by over 100,000 since 2012.



Here at Harvard we have an understanding of the technology sector that is second to none. By having a Fellow of the BCS within our recruitment team we are able to talk to clients and candidates alike at a level technical level they understand and that most other recruiters can't!



Technologies / Roles supported (Non-exhaustive)

Cloud / On Premise Infrastructure / Telecommunications
1st – 3rd Line Engineers
Technical Consultants / Solution Architects
Business Analysts / Project Managers / Programme Managers
Executive and Management

Engineering Sector

The engineering sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK. Engineers are in extremely high demand in the current market. In the next 5 years more than 1,000,000 job vacancies will require engineering skills. Engineers are very employable with 65% of engineering and technology graduates being employed within six months of graduating.



We offer a tailored specialist recruitment service delivering a high-quality candidates to our engineering clients across the UK.



Some examples of the types of vacancies we cover and have placed within the engineering sector are –

Telecoms engineers
Bid Engineers
Radio Communications Engineers
Design Engineers
Cost Engineers
Project Managers

Marketing and Digital Sector

The Marketing sector is constantly evolving, with the digital Marketing sector becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the UK at the moment. There has been a significant increase in demand for both specialist skills and more general digital marketing roles across the board, with approx. 150,000 digital jobs predicted by 2020.



In a market with an increasing over reliance on technological solutions to source talent, we offer something more – relationships. We help like-minded clients and candidates find each other, bringing engagement, passion, fun and productivity to the workplace.



Marketing Communications Management
Digital Marketing
Integrated Marketing
General Marketing
Brand Management
Campaign and Event Management
Advertising

Senior Appointments

Backed up by our team of highly experienced associates, Jonty and Mike head up Harvard's Senior appointment recruitment division. With an ability to provide our skill set across most platforms and industry sectors, our approach to senior recruitment puts the candidates within the executive, leadership and management tiers at the heart of any assignment.

Harvard fully understands the subtleties of working with senior candidates and their particular needs from a recruitment firm. We are confident in recognising when to apply the necessary ‘light touch' approach and enjoy working very closely with each and every candidate and honing our levels of consulting to their individual needs and personality.

At Senior level recruitment, Harvard fully recognises our role in a successful hire; we work hard to help grow the relationship between potential employee and hiring organisation, recognising we are employed to provide a supporting role in the process. We work with utter discretion and confidentiality and recognise the need for precise and professional communication at every stage.

Interim and Contractor Recruitment

By its very nature this type of recruitment usually requires a quick turnaround to get the right contractor in place. Here at Harvard Associates we have a strong network of interim/contract workers that we can source for temporary assignments to cover project work or to fill a gap whilst you search for the perfect permanent employee.



We provide experienced specialists to execute the most complex assignments where skills may not exist within an organisation or the current span of skills is stretched beyond capacity. Our consulting teams specialise across a range of disciplines including the provision of contract executives in finance, human resources, technology, supply chain/procurement and sales & marketing.



Contractors: Why use Harvard Associates?
Contracting through Harvard Associates is a positive option for many individuals who have developed a depth and breadth in their professional specialisation. It may be something to consider if the right permanent opportunity hasn't materialised or where the opportunity exists to leverage your accumulated expertise within organisations that are in need of additional executive resource. Being an contractor can often provide you with a professional edge as you gain exposure to a variety of organisations, sectors, technologies and commercial challenges .



Clients: Why use Harvard Associates?
Our contractors are a key asset to companies and organisations throughout the UK. They often take up prominent and influential executive roles with some of the countries most recognised & respected employers providing them with:



Fixed period access to expertise as and when required
The ability to have experts on board to optimise growth or fight off contraction
Skills to manage complex commercial projects where no internal expertise exists
Capability to oversee ‘cross discipline' professional teams in delivering scaled change projects
Objective advice to assess the challenge and execute the solution
Acceleration in an existing project that has lost momentum
An immediate solution where there has been a sudden departure of an executive or the search process is taking longer than expected

Retained Search

Harvard Associates have a proven track record in senior appointments and search assignments of which we are rightly proud. The team have conducted projects of this nature in the UK, mainland Europe and the US.

Upon instruction to proceed with your assignment, Harvard will provide your organisation a dedicated Consultant to work exclusively on your role, managing the process end to end. However, whilst they will be your point of contact, they will be representing a team of associates working on your behalf behind the scenes.

Blending the use of the latest technology available and the Consultant's ability to find, interview and filter suitable candidates on your behalf, Harvard will provide only precisely shortlisted candidates. All candidates presented to you will be vetted using our online portal that provides an in-depth, complimentary assessment using video interviewing and psychometric testing.

Harvard will deliver the candidate shortlist to you face to face, in order to fully explain the results of our screen interviews with them and of the output from the technical screening processes.

Standard Recruitment Service

Standard Recruitment is where most of our work is undertaken. This is the classic “Contingency Recruitment" model whereby Harvard assumes the risk but as a result the reward / fees are highest.

This is a fully end-to-end managed process. Harvard Consultants will take a full brief from you as a client to fully understand not just the role, but also the correct candidate fit. From there the consultant will hand it across to our First-Class resourcing team; they create dynamic, attention grabbing advertisements and we then publish these across all of the channels available to us. At the same time the Resourcing Team will start to search all of our databases and known candidates to source the best available.

The Resourcing Team then hand the most appropriate candidates across to the consultant who then contacts each potential candidate to qualify suitability. A shortlist (size agreed at time of instruction) is then presented to the client, often face to face, to discuss & draw up an interview shortlist.

At this stage our consultant will endeavour to meet those candidates being interviewed face to face. In fact we try to meet as many candidates as possible face to face as we strongly believe in the personal touch here.

Your Harvard consultant will then work with you to manage the interview process.

Often making the Offer is where the recruitment process is most fraught and can inexplicably collapse. Our consultants are highly experienced in managing this process and spotting potential issues before they arise. The fact that we have built a level of relationship with the candidate helps massively when transitioning through the most emotional part of the process.

Once the offer has been accepted your Harvard consultant will continue to manage any additional client or candidate requirements right up to their Start Date (and often beyond!)

This service comes with a rebate period as we are confident that we will place the right candidate for your role!

CV Delivery Service

Here at Harvard we like to innovate and break moulds where possible; so having listened to our clients, we devised our latest offering; the “CV Delivery Service". This works exceptionally well when you have some internal recruiting capabilities but have some restrictions; time or access to candidates.

Often we are told that our client is happy to shortlist and manage the interview & offer process but simply struggle to get applicants. This is where our CV Delivery Service can help! We use our expertise and access to leading Job Boards and Databases to deliver a list of CVs for your role.

Harvard will advertise and search on your behalf. We will high level sift the CVs to weed out the blatantly inappropriate CVs and pass you the rest. These will be a mixture of applications and sourced CVs. Candidates will not be contacted.

If required Harvard can qualify a client created shortlist from the CVs provided. We will make initial contact with the candidates and ask a set of standard questions and pass the responses back to the client to make their own interview shortlist.

Candidate management, arranging interviews etc. is then across to you as a client to arrange.

We operate on a different cost model for this service; Fixed Fee upfront; with no rebate. 4% for CV Delivery, optional 3.5% for candidate qualification from client shortlist if required.