Meet the Consultant…with Helena Ranger

Meet the Consultant…with Helena Ranger

For our next ‘Meet The Consultant’ spotlight blog we speak with Helena Ranger, Senior Consultant at Hanson Search, leading on senior communications roles within Tech and Brand both with agencies and in-house. Helena shares her journey into recruitment, insights and trends in the PR industry and gives advice to both employers and candidates.

How did you get into Executive Search?

Having worked in Sales and Events for 10 years within luxury hotels and venues, I knew I was ready for a career change, but I wanted to take my love of working closely with people, building relationships and helping people, into my next challenge. I had always been interested in exploring recruitment and it felt like the right time. I spoke with various friends within the industry and decided the most natural route for me to make my way into executive search was to gain experience within the hospitality sector and through my network I found a perfect place to do this. After a couple of years (and a baby) I made the move to Hanson Search, all thanks to a very close friend of mine, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s never too late to make a career change, and my background in hospitality has made me a better consultant to my clients and candidates.

Can you tell us a little about your current role?

I’m a senior consultant leading on senior communications roles within Tech and Brand both with agencies and in-house. I love working closely with my clients to really understand their business and their needs, to ensure I fulfil the brief and find them the very best candidates. This also allows me to build closer relationships with potential candidates, to provide detailed information on a company and role and really match what they’re looking for with the right opportunity.

I love meeting with both candidates and clients and try to do this in person as much as possible, but post covid, teams meetings have really allowed us to meet with more people regularly. I really do get a buzz from coaching people through the interview process, finding them their perfect next step in their career, and seeing them really happy. That’s what makes this job so rewarding.

What talent challenges/trends in the PR industry are you currently seeing?

The biggest trend I see is the importance of culture to people. I would say this is even more important than benefits, which is also a huge trend. Candidates really want to understand what the company does to look after their team, what they offer, what the team are like, is it a really supportive team, do they work really collaboratively etc and this is why it is so important for us to learn all about the company and the individual teams so that we can really highlight these things to candidates.

Hybrid working is definitely here to stay and for candidates this is hugely important. I’d say on average companies offer 2-3 days or 50% in the office.

As the war on talent continues, what techniques have you seen businesses in your industry use to attract and retain talent?

One of the most valuable things clients can offer senior candidates that are actively looking, especially within a competitive market where there’s a candidate shortage like tech, is to meet for an initial, relatively informal coffee. It gives the candidate a chance to get a feel for the company, the culture and what they are looking for and understand if it’s the right fit for them, before committing to a formal interview process where they are then more likely to be truly passionate about joining them. It equally gives the client an opportunity to see if the chemistry and culture fit is right and really get a feel for the person behind the CV before a more structured formal interview.

Career path – candidates really want to have a clear understanding of how they can grow within the company and contribute to the wider business and growth of the company.

Benefits – new benefits that have arisen post covid which have become extremely attractive to candidates, are the ability to work anywhere in the world for a specified number of weeks in the year, extended holiday leave or even unlimited, supporting employees through cost of living, and offering access to or financial contribution towards monthly health and wellbeing of employees.

What one piece of advice would you give to hirers?

If you are serious in hiring and meet someone you like, it is important to move things along at a consistent pace. Candidates often have several conversations or interviews going on and if things drag on and the momentum and excitement is lost, you will often lose them to another opportunity regardless of how interested they were in the initial stages.

How can companies within Tech or Brand benefit from working with a recruiter for their talent hiring process? 

A recruiter can help companies understand the market, provide valuable insight and consult clients on how best to attract and retain talent and stay on top of what candidates are looking for, latest trends and advise on best ways to recruit.

Especially within tech, candidates are in such high demand and are constantly approached about new opportunities that it can be hard to cut through the noise and actually find someone who not only fits what you are looking for but aligns with what they are looking for and who is even open to a conversation. We pride ourselves on the relationships we build with candidates and already have a great network of candidates who trust our knowledge of the market.

Candidates often have several interview processes going on and having a close relationship and rapport with them allows us to help them navigate the process, provide advice, feedback and keep them engaged, providing valuable insights into the company and people they will be interviewing with. We work to support both the client and candidate throughout the process.

Where do you recommend candidates look for opportunities in light of a potential economic downturn – inhouse v agency?

There is such a huge demand from candidates for the desire to go inhouse, and I hear this on a daily basis. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to inhouse in the same way that there isn’t within agencies. A small independent agency operates differently to your large global organisations and even then each small independent agency operates differently. The same in inhouse; a start up vs a scale up vs an established company. When it comes to a potential economic downturn, you can feel very uncertain and nervous but my advice would be to remain focused on the things that are important to you, what you love about what you do, the reasons you are looking and what you are passionate about. Focusing on that will ensure you don’t get caught up in what you think you should do vs what you want to do. There will always be a risk moving jobs in that time whether that’s inhouse or agency, so follow your instincts and explore all options.

As someone who took a career change into Executive Search, what advice would you give someone looking to explore recruitment?

I love what I do, and I am extremely lucky to do it in an environment of incredibly talented, knowledgeable, inspiring people at Hanson Search who truly support each other and work as a team. Executive recruitment can be extremely rewarding; if you love meeting people and building relationships.

My advice would be to do your research and find an agency that feels right for you, spark conversations with people in the industry and pull on your network for advice. For me the natural path was to start my career in a sector that I knew well; hospitality, and grow from there and I’m so happy its led me to Hanson Search.