“Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine”, said Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research at Gartner, a few years ago.
He couldn’t be more right. These days, accessing quality data and analysing it is any company’s most precious resource after its employees.
Farming, not fishing.
When Stratum opened its doors in 2012, it introduced a radically different recruitment concept revolving around proactively engaging with professionals in its domain, irrespective of market demands.
We call this our “farming model”, which has roots in the belief that gathering quality information, interpreting, analysing, processing, using it efficiently, and turning it into knowledge is critical for any business, regardless of sector and size. Knowing what is happening in your organisation (and sector) can help predict consumer and client behaviour, calculate indirect costs and gains, identify gaps in the markets, spot bottlenecks, anticipate market trends, and ultimately make better decisions faster.
The recruitment sector is not exempt from this, says Stratum’s founder and Director, Will Coetzer. However, it seems to be starved of it.
“Knowing where the best talent sits in the market before the need to recruit arises is a strategy. Reactively advertising is not.
A proactive strategy results in optimal hiring, better retention, and more ROI. You can only know if you have found the best possible candidate when continuously assessing the global talent pool beyond any live search mandates.
Fitting a culture – Data drives better recruitment outcomes
He adds that research shows that 80% of professionals join a company based on subjective assessment (e.g., interviews, referencing, etc.). However, a staggering 80% of people leave their company due to some form of culture misfit, be it on an individual or organisational level.
Stratum’s proactive candidate management and assessment model, augmented by its ongoing quest for quality data and translating it into tangible information, is the foundation of its recruitment success. “Stratum’s proactive process has departed a long time ago from traditional reactive recruitment practices, which can be haphazard and unpredictable. Instead, the model is predictable and measurable because it is proactive and science/data-driven, thus based on knowledge and facts, which means it can be measured and matches to organisational requirements,” says Coetzer.
“This makes it easier to connect companies with the best possible candidates, which saves time, money and commercial downtime”.
Information also equals business insights
Stratum’s data is managed by a dedicated in-house data team of three professionals working from its Cape Town office. “Their mandate is to streamline our candidate management model, allowing us to offer structured and immediate access to the best people in the market,” Coetzer says.
The data team also supports Stratum’s Principals and Consultants to produce original research; white papers, surveys and job market and salary evaluations. These provide Stratum and its clients and candidates with unique insights into the latest mining trends and opportunities and challenges facing professionals working in the sector.
Would you please participate in our Big Data survey?
While we’re on the topic of the importance of data, we would appreciate your input in our new research Big Data. Big Tech. Big Change? survey, which explores the digital revolution’s impact on people who work in mining.
The aim is to understand better how technology and the digital revolution are changing and shaping the mining industry and the roles of those employed in the sector. How are mining professionals and their employers adapting to and using digital technology to their advantage? What role do AI, robots, blockchain, data, analytics, and other technologies play in mining, and what are the forecasts for the future? Does human talent face an existential crisis?
We would appreciate 15 minutes of your time to complete the survey. We will send you a complimentary copy of the publication (aimed for late September 2021) and donate up to $1,000 to charity for reaching 1,000 respondents.