"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year."

John Foster Dulles

The Stopgap Group
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FAQ's

Here at last, a selection of frequently asked questions about Courtenay HR. We hope you find them interesting. Feel free to add to them by submitting one of your own. See the bottom of the page for details.

What do you specialise in?

Dumb question we know, but it’s amazing how many people ask. For the record, we specialise in HR and only HR. It’s all we do and all we have done for over 35 years.

What salary ranges do you recruit at?

Our lowest level role in the last 12 months was 20k, our highest was £250k.

How do you remunerate your staff?

With money of course… and plenty of love.

Do you pay commission?

No. And we don’t pay ‘bonus’ that is really a commission either. We pay a real bonus based on company profitability and overall contribution to the team, which is paid twice a year.

If you don’t pay commission, how do you motivate your staff to fill the roles?

Simply by employing people with a passion for what they do.

Why should we use you rather than a competitor?

There are different reasons for different competitors. If we are talking about a generalist Executive Search business then the main reasons are:

  • Knowing who’s out there - Firstly, as a specialist we probably know more people in HR than the all the executive search organisations put together. Typically, they will start fresh for a senior search position, targeting 20 or 30 companies in obvious sectors. When the exercise is finished, they will, in many cases discard the information they have on those they saw for the post. This means that they are never building a pool of knowledge from which you can draw. It also means that you are fishing for your most senior HR people (And remember, this person is going to deliver your HR strategy) in a very small pond indeed.

    As a specialist, we have extensive networks, which are constantly being refreshed and updated. This gives us access to a much greater pool of high potential individuals.

  • Consultant Knowledge - Also, the consultant at this level will probably be servicing several markets and will not be a specialist in HR. They may have only ever handled a few HR positions and their knowledge of the HR market and function may be very limited. In these scenarios they often see more candidates than is actually necessary and will rely on the candidates’ ability to present themselves, rather than having the depth of knowledge with which to make their own assessment.

  • Speed - A combination of the above two means that we can deliver more qualified shortlists, in much shorter timescales.

  • Cost - Knowing more people, knowing our stuff and delivering in half the time of a typical executive search competitor means there is a cost advantage - for both of us. We pass this on to our clients. Others don’t. Still paying a fee that begins with a ‘3’ and takes up to 12 weeks to deliver a shortlist? More fool you.

When comparing us to other specialist HR consultancies, that’s a little more difficult, because until you actually engage with us it can be difficult to tell us apart. But we guarantee you will. To get some idea, why not visit their websites and get a view of what they are saying or talk directly to a few of us to get an impression.

One thing we would say - be sure to go with someone who has been around a while. With the HR sector remaining buoyant, there are many new kids on the block who care more about shoring up their revenues than they do about delivering a great service.

How many assignments do you handle a year?

In the last 12 months we have serviced 110 clients, fulfilling in excess of 140 posts.

What sectors do you work in?

We have extensive experience across all sectors, including not for profit and public sectors. To be clear:

  • Consulting

  • FMCG/Retail

  • Entertainment

  • Financial Services/Legal/Insurance

  • IT/Comms/Electronics

  • Manufacturing/Process and Engineering

  • Oil/Gas/Power

  • Pharmaceutical

  • Construction

  • Publishing

  • Services

  • Travel/Transport/Leisure

  • Not for Profit/Public Sector

As more questions come in, we will print them here. If you have a question, please submit it via the Viewpoint feedback form. Thankyou.