In 2018 we participated in a pitch for Allgeier Experts. Back then they were one of the biggest German/ European recruiters for IT specialists and teams.
They had been buying competitors for a couple of years and arrived at a state where it became necessary to reshape, reposition and re-organize their brands and go to market.
It was a big pitch asking questions on brand, digital, website, content, process, and positioning and we wanted to shine so we decided to include a consulting part on their business model. And we almost won the pitch and we only didn’t due to our small agency size…
On my way back from the UXCamp 2022 I read an article in the latest “brand eins” on the latest trends in subscriptions and on why this business model did perform as it currently does.
While also showing a new service I didn’t know about before. The startup 81 Boards offers a digital advisory board as a service – which made me remember our proposal for the Allgeier Experts Pitch.
To explain it and to show the impact it could have I need to go a step back. In the past, it was complicated to hire someone for only a short time. Temporal employment (Zeitarbeit) as google research still shows is seen as slavery, exploitation, only for people without education or training, and generally not desirable.
Then came corona. Then came the big resignation. And it’s still not over. People are rethinking their priorities. Companies don’t find enough people anymore. Wages explode and especially GenZ is not willing anymore to sacrifice their lifetime for bad employment.
What we proposed to Allgeier Experts back in 2018 was basically to include temporal employment in their offer. To learn from careers in the sports segment.
What did we mean by that? With the job market being empty and the competitive situation among recruiters and headhunters getting harder and harder, finding candidates. Why not take a step back? Why not start recruiting at a much earlier stage. We proposed they recruit their candidates already during their studies. Find them their first employment. Look into their training, their performance, their wage development, and also become their manager. Allgeier would also be a third-party mediator in case of any problems between the employee and the company.
This would enable them to get their candidates earlier – before the competition.
It would allow them to achieve a continuous cash flow – for managing careers and progress and being available as a mediator.
It would enable them to guarantee the fit or the performance of a candidate in a certain position – as they would know exactly what they learned, what they experienced, and how they performed in the past – in contrast to the one-time-broker model of the competition who would still guess based on a CV.
And it would bind the candidates to Allgeier as they would see a positive impact on their personal careers from this partnership.
Back then I didn’t call it a subscription model but after seeing 81 boards and after knowing how easy it is to roll out a subscription model today, this is exactly what it is.
Get the person – early on – manage their career path, manage their education and training and grow together.
I’ve included three slides of our pitch – with a translation under each slide.
Positioning
In the market, only the personal approach can be identified as a mandatory aspect of communication. This takes place at least in the external presentation of every competitor screened.
Apart from this, some market participants communicate the aspect of the solution provider relatively offensively. From our perspective, however, this is more of an address to the companies and not to the candidates.
The positioning or presentation as an intermediary of experts (on the candidate side as well as on the company side “We only bring you together with the best employers”) is not sustainable from our perspective. On the one hand, on the candidate side, it is a fundamental requirement for the recruiter to fill the position with the most suitable person; on the other hand, the recruiter cannot even ensure that it is only looking for personnel for the best companies. If candidates rely on this, sooner or later there will be a divergence between promise and reality.
However, we see the potential for a sustainable positioning in the market as a “lifelong partner”. On the one hand, this is supported by the fact that Allgeier already frequently addresses the issue of a long-term partnership on its website.
By providing candidates with complete career support from their studies to retirement, we can offer companies a greater guarantee of their performance and cultural fit.
By offering additional Allgeier training and education, the supply side can be actively influenced and the service for companies can be even better, which at the same time binds candidates to Allgeier.
Lifelong support throughout the entire career also means that Allgeier can earn several times over from a candidate.
In short, -> positioning Allgeier as a “lifelong partner” can, if the appropriate framework conditions are also created, create a coherent and unique market positioning that no competitor is currently using and can create a sustainable candidate and customer loyalty.
Allgeiers’ future
Allgeier is your future-oriented lifelong partner who takes care of you and your career from the moment you graduate.
Allgeier places you in the best positions for you to grow in the long term.
With the certified Allgeier Academy, you can learn important skills from our professional instructors that will help you grow personally and what the market demands. We also support you in proactive training and monitor your progress.
If you have problems with an employer, you can turn to us as a third party and we will mediate the conflict.
Let us know from the beginning what your short, medium and long-term goals are and we will help you to achieve them together.
-> At Allgeier, we call this “managed careers”. Furthermore, this also improves the standing of the companies, as the recruiter can better assess and refer a candidate he has known and coached for a long time and possibly trained.
In addition, the aspect of acting as an external arbitration board can be seen as a further service for the companies, which binds them as customers.
We also brought some claims to bring this to life.
Today I have to say, I really believe in this business model and potential setup. I think it can solve the current problem of the big resignation. It has some elements of a classical workers union – but it’s not a union – it’s more the classical manager of an artist or an athlete looking into all aspects of your career and guiding your way.
It’s a valid model because it would not be a 1:1 management but a shared service model for the provider.
It’s a future-facing model as the situation on the job market got only worse for companies. Flexibility is only increasing so why not give employees – or specialists this flexibility back. Why not hire them for the job and projects they know?
Why not hire them only for this – if we could hire them quickly? And why not give them training and a short time off after this project before borrowing them for another project.
I am – once again – super interested in this topic and potential new business models and offerings in the market. Let’s shift the perception and make temporal employment a thing of flexibility, growth, and security at the same time. It’s up to us to shape the future. It’s up to us to shape our future work reality.
@Allgeier – it’s time to disrupt yourself before someone else does.
Looking forward to your perspectives on this.
Thanks for reading.