The ties that bind to find talent: Jackson Hogg

Sometimes, partnerships just work.

Whether it’s small or large organisations, two entrepreneurs with an insatiable appetite to progress together, the maverick and the modest sidekick or two feuding musical brothers about to embark on a potentially messy multi-million-pound world tour – collaboration makes things happen.

There are times when co-operation leverages a pair’s unique strengths to create a combination of expertise, skills, experience and networks that help tackle challenges more effectively.

In the case of the industrial technology specialist Tracerco and STEM recruitment expert Jackson Hogg, their alliance – under the official monicker of a Talent Partnership – has proved so successful that their 12-month trial period has just been extended by a further two years.

And both parties are delighted.

When she joined Billingham-headquartered Tracerco as chief people officer two years ago, Joy Toner was handed the task of restructuring the company’s people services, including recruitment and HR across 20 countries worldwide.

And, after building on an existing relationship with Jackson Hogg, the last year has been spent developing the Talent Partnership agreement, which is driving Tracerco’s global recruitment.

Joy has been working in HR for more than 20 years, with roles in the financial, pharmaceutical, health and legal sectors complemented by a short spell with Amazon.

For her, the collaboration with Jackson Hogg was a ‘no-brainer’.

She says: “The option existed to hire an in-house recruitment person on the permanent staff into my team, who’d be responsible for all recruitment globally and source the best candidates, regardless of location.

“But it’s very difficult, when you look at the different specialisms of the business in STEM, to find an individual experienced in all those disciplines.

“And it becomes even more difficult when you add the global complexities, not only in terms of supporting all the disciplines and specialisms, but doing so on a global scale.

“Growth is heavily dependent on attracting and retaining the right talent, and we already had links with Jackson Hogg, through its deep industry knowledge and extensive network, so the Talent Partnership was a no-brainer as there was existing trust and confidence in its team, as well as the affinity we’d built.”

Sara Walker, managing talent partner at Jackson Hogg, who works out of the recruitment firm’s Billingham office, is Jackson Hogg’s eyes and ears at Tracerco, and is on site at least three days a week.

She says: “Through my role, I understand what is going on within the business and can have conversations I wouldn’t be able to if I was remote or not here regularly.

“We need to be able to pick up the phone, speak to our specialists and say, ‘this is what the culture is like, and this is what you can expect’.

“You’re basically the eyes and ears of everything, aiming for the best outcome.

“It’s about managing expectations and making sure everybody has the best experience – and I think we’ve done that at Tracerco.”

The aim is to deliver the Jackson Hogg Talent Partnership, which started with an initial audit of Tracerco’s recruitment processes that subsequently offered suggestions and improvements to the quality and speed of hire and cost reductions.

And through its focused partnership, Jackson Hogg, which also has offices in Newcastle and Leeds, has cut Tracerco’s average recruitment time from more than 100 days to 30.

Joy says: “The confidence that comes with having someone that provides such close support, and really leverages relationships, is amazing.

“There is always room for us to learn more about each other’s businesses and the way that we do things, but it was an obvious choice to go with the Talent Partnership arrangement.

“And it’s one I don’t regret.

“It’s the work ethic too; we have synergies in terms of values, the way we like to treat our people and how we conduct ourselves.

“We’re aligned in our values, and I genuinely think there’s a candid nature to the relationship, built on trust, whereby we can be really honest with one another, which is where you get the best out of a relationship.

“I’ve dabbled with recruitment over the years, and had a lot of experience with it, but I’m by no means a specialist, and we didn’t have that within our team.

“And having somebody who so often understands what we need before we need it, and can suggest that, is really beneficial.

“We’re a very fast-paced business, with little time to really strategise, and Sara just hit the ground running.

“When she joined, she saw where she needed to link in with team members at different stages of the employee life cycle, and identified the improvements we needed to make.

“That’s what we needed; somebody who was the ready-made article, who came in and delivered from the start.”

To find out more about how a Talent Partnership could benefit your business, or to learn about Jackson Hogg’s wider suite of specialist recruitment and outsourced talent services support, click here or call 0191 580 0495.

Pictured, Joy Toner, chief people officer at Tracerco