How ISL Talent Uses Beauhurst For Strategic Recruitment
The more we invest in Beauhurst, the more we get back from it in terms of value to the business. We feel better equipped to use it today than we were yesterday or six months ago.
ISL Talent are experts in startup recruitment, helping venture capital backed founders build their startup teams with people who embody and share the right values.
- Industry
Recruitment & talent advisory
- Location
- Employees
The Challenge
After a rebrand in 2022, the company decided to focus their attention on the startup sector. This meant that the majority of ISL Talent’s clients had 10 to 50 staff, each with their own unique challenges and opportunities as they navigate their growth phase.
Often fueled by accelerator programmes or venture funding, these startups undergo rapid expansion, transitioning quickly from small teams to larger operations. And while it can be straightforward to find startups that are looking for funding, finding companies that demonstrate the traction ISL Talent was looking for was proving more tricky.
They were looking for ways to uncover these high-growth startups before the wider market did — seeking to establish relationships with founders before they become known to competitors. Then, they needed a process in place to efficiently reach out to prospects at scale, without getting lost amongst all the other service providers vying for their attention.
This is where we stepped in.
The Solution
Business development
Our database offers unparalleled insights into the exact markets that ISL Talent is looking for.
"It's about uncovering founders that are on a great journey and developing relationships with them so that we can support them in some way now or in the future."
By using Beauhurst, the team can search for specific company sectors, locations, size, funding and growth range, to identify businesses and the founders behind them. Using this information, the team at ISL Talent can now target startups demonstrating the all-important signs of substantial growth potential and engage with them.
Alan explained that when the team began using the Beauhurst platform, they used the Beauhurst ‘similar companies’ function. This feature reveals similar company profiles to the one that is currently showing on the platform. “We used the similar companies function as a starting point. It was a relatively easy way to jump into using it,” said Alan.
Candidate sourcing
Not only does the team at ISL Talent use the Beauhurst platform to help them in business development, but they also utilise it for talent acquisition. Furley explained, “For candidate sourcing, the real value lies in the time it saves us. We can quickly see where a person might have worked previously, and use that information to inform our approach.”
The company takes on retained, highly specific searches for candidates, where reaching a relevant talent pool is key. The ISL Talent team uses the platform’s Advanced Search function to find specific, relevant companies, and put that data into LinkedIn or their own database to filter candidates.
Client and prospect monitoring
The team at ISL Talent uses the Beauhurst ‘Collections’ function to monitor interesting companies and ensure they won’t miss out on any significant changes. Essentially, it enables users to create a collection of companies on the platform. From here, Beauhurst will automatically send an email alert if there are changes (take unannounced fundraising, for example) or if there’s news associated with one of these companies.
For Alan, this is an important feature. He says his team builds lists of businesses within their target audience, they then use Collections to streamline their approach and maximise efficiency when reaching out.
Armed with our insights, ISL Talent’s team has since adopted proactive engagement strategies to connect with high-potential startups. Instead of waiting for startups to enter fundraising mode or make public announcements, they can now initiate conversations much earlier, positioning themselves as strategic partners who are invested in their success.
The Results
Since working with Beauhurst, ISL Talent has seen big changes in the way they find and connect with potential clients, streamlining their processes and saving valuable time.
This more proactive approach has led to a higher quality of client engagements, helping them build more meaningful and long-lasting relationships. They’re also reporting a definite improvement in productivity and cost-effectiveness. For Alan, he needs to be sure he’s seeing a 10x return on investment on indirect spend, he’s shared that when it comes to Beauhurst, “I’m confident that I’m seeing that 10x return that I need to see.”
"I’m confident that I’m seeing that 10x return that I need to see."
Alan and the team were particularly impressed with the level of support provided by our Account Management and Subscriber Growth teams.
"We buy software in a number of different ways at ISL Talent and, obviously, the quality of the software is significant, that’s a given. But for me, the differentiator is the customer service you experience, and at Beauhurst, that’s strong. I know I can always talk to my Account Manager or someone else from the team."
While the quality of our data was a crucial element to the success ISL Talent has seen, it was the proactive and responsive assistance from these teams that really stood out for them. Alan explained, “I think the much more proactive support and responsiveness is something that really helps with the value for us.”
For Alan and the team, they’re continuing to see results and learn about our data platform:
"There’s one argument to get a subscription or access to a platform, get the maximum benefit from it, and then get rid of it to save yourself the money for the next year. The reason why we haven’t done that is because the data always changes and because the more we invest in it, the more we get back from it in value for the business. We feel better equipped to use it today than we were yesterday or six months ago. "
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