Supporting Business Growth When Scaling Up Following Investment

Overcoming challenges posed throughout the recruitment process

There can be significant challenges throughout the recruitment process for start-up businesses or smaller businesses who have recently been awarded funding or received private investment. With Vertex Hydrogen, they were already feeling the pressure of tight timescales and furthering their growth which was heavily reliant on the recruitment of two key roles for the business. Without these business-critical roles in situ, Vertex Hydrogen wouldn’t have been able to progress to the next stage of government funding.

Not only was there a significant pressure with timescales, the roles Vertex Hydrogen were keen to recruit for were niche positions, with very limited talent pools. As a newer industry within the clean energy market, there is a significant lack of experienced talent without sourcing talent from other allied sectors.

While working for a new, innovative start-up organisation can appeal to some, it can often be a difficult sell to candidates working in larger, more established businesses. This is something our team of experts spend time having detailed conversations with candidates to talk them through in detail such as the company’s structure, plans and vision.

Partnering with an industry specialist to drive hiring results

Having spent nine months trying to hire a Financial Manager, it was at this point that the CFO first engaged with CSG Talent. After initial conversations, Elle, a senior consultant within the renewable energy recruitment team had a meeting with the HR Business Partner. Elle is an expert within the hydrogen energy market and she demonstrated this throughout the meeting, highlighting the niche expertise and skillsets within the team and the benefits this knowledge can bring to the success of recruitment campaigns of this nature.

Vertex Hydrogen had no prior experience working with an industry specialist, so it was a totally new concept for them to partner with a renewable energy expert who not only has in-depth knowledge of the market, but a specialist on the full hiring and talent attraction process.

Two of the most recent positions CSG Talent supported Vertex Hydrogen with were a Financial Manager and a Commercial Manager, two senior level roles which were key to driving the business growth and progressing to the next stage of government funding on such impactful projects within energy. These are huge projects driving decarbonisation and clean energy.

A recruitment process demonstrating pace and precision

Our energy recruitment expert demonstrated a seamless and efficient recruitment process, delivering a concise shortlist of only the most relevant candidates within four days of the initial brief. An in-depth interview process followed, where, due to the high calibre and relevance of the candidates presented by CSG Talent, two offers were made. From initial recruitment brief, through to employment offers presented to candidates, the process was a short four weeks. The pace that the energy recruitment team worked at during the recruitment campaign while delivering the desired results was impressive.

Due to the success in the initial recruitment project, CSG Talent were appointed to look at further roles within the business and successfully placed a Commercial Manager some time after.

Effective candidate management 

Effective candidate management is an essential part of the hiring process, Elle ensured she maintained this throughout the process, providing open communication lines and being honest with both candidates and the client keeping them update on progress, managing expectations and overcoming any challenges or objections.

For one of the positions, there was a significant delay in the offer process due to pauses with government funding. For a period of seven months, Elle kept in regular weekly contact, keeping the candidate engaged, updating on progress and ensuring they were still committed to the opportunity. This candidate had no exposure to recruiters prior to the process so Elle spent time explaining the process from start to finish, building trust and a strong partnership with the candidate. As a result, after a lengthy process, and CSG Talent negotiating start dates to suit both client and candidate, the start date was confirmed.