NEWS.
The Links: Demain Magazine - Vaud Chamber of Commerce and Industry. No 2 April-May 2024
" The era of the full-time, 8 AM to 5 PM employee is over "
CVCI - No 2 April-May 2024
Juliette Jain, an HR specialist with expertise in team and project management, suggests ways to address the talent shortage. According to her, companies should offer innovative working conditions that align with the life balance values of the younger generation.
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How severe is the labor and talent shortage?
The Swiss Employers' Association estimates a shortage of 500,000 workers by 2030 and 1.3 million by 2050 in Switzerland. The causes are varied. Firstly, baby boomers are retiring as we face a declining birth rate. Secondly, the career expectations of the new generations have shifted towards a desire for a better work-life balance and personal satisfaction and development. Furthermore, there is a mismatch between the skills that employers need and those available in the job market. This is already evident in IT, healthcare, and certain industries. Hence, the importance of training, continuous education, skill enhancement, and retraining. Finally, there is a growing need for skills in jobs that do not yet exist, especially in connection with digital growth, ecological transition, and the development of artificial intelligence.
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You emphasize the employer brand and the attractiveness of companies. Are they doing enough?
The employer brand is the employee experience that begins with the recruitment process and ends when the employee leaves the company, including talent retention within the organization. We are in a candidate-driven market. It is no longer a choice: every company, regardless of its size and reputation, must work on its employer brand. This means focusing on attractiveness and retention factors that contribute to its reputation in order to offer working conditions that stand out and align with the life balance values of the younger generation. This is essential to attract candidates, retain talent, and reduce the phenomenon of "great resignation" or "quiet quitting." Work hours per week, vacation offerings, schedule and location flexibility, and training opportunities are some of the parameters to consider. Structuring the recruitment process is another very important aspect. A short and well-structured process prevents candidate burnout, who might turn to other attractive offers that emerge in the meantime. An approach that promotes objectivity, led by trained professionals with interpersonal skills, and a marketing approach to appeal to potential future recruits make a difference.
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Is continuous training a way to retain talent?
Internal training programs, encouragement to pursue external certified courses, and the conditions provided by the employer in terms of time and financial resources, are part of the employer brand and thus contribute to the attractiveness of the company. Each company should reinvest a percentage of its revenue in training. This is a way to develop skills internally instead of seeking them externally and to offer professional development opportunities that match employees' career aspirations. This latter point is often overlooked, especially in SMEs, due to ease and budget constraints.
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Do you advocate for new employability models? Examples?
The era of the permanent, 8 AM to 5 PM employee is over. Young people are no longer attracted to this type of contract. More flexible models with recruitment based on skills and projects are part of the future norms. Examples include freelancers, contractors, transition managers or specialists, outsourcing of skills, and turnaround managers. The advantages include flexibility, and risk and cost management. Access to these professionals provides immediate added value. For example, there are services like the one I created (The Links) active in brokering transition and crisis managers, as well as providing outsourced specialists within 48 hours. This service meets a very recent need in Switzerland, which has intensified post-Covid. In conclusion, the current shortage of labor and talent is characterized by a complex interaction of skill imbalances, technological advancements, and changes in workforce expectations, requiring creative and flexible responses from employers.
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Juliette Jain www.thelinks.ch
The Links: The revolution in recruitment: On-demand specialists brokerage
Forbes - September 2023
Born in Switzerland, The Links has opened up a new avenue in the human resources world of recruitment of transition manager & executive and skills outsourcing. With its innovative concept, The Links has established itself as a bridge between companies looking for talent and the professional services and consulting firms with which it has created partnerships. We offer a 48-hour solution to your recruitment needs.
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The Links, based in Switzerland, innovates with an on-demand specialists brokerage approach for immediate and flexible recruitment solutions. The company, headed by Juliette Jain, an HR expert and former HR Director who spent 14 years with Big 4 PwC and at the World Economic Forum, offers a tailor-made service for private companies and public institutions. With over 20 years' experience in the corporate world, and extensive knowledge of human resources, coaching and consulting, she has been able to identify the changes taking place in the world of work. Particularly after the Covid-19 crisis, to develop an innovative recruitment model. "When I left PricewaterhouseCoopers, I started out on my own, firstly as a career coach specializing in Personal Branding, creating JAIN - Personal Branding & Development (jain-pbd.com), and then as a freelance HR consultant and headhunter. Then, from my practice came the idea for The Links."
The Links fills the gaps in the job market by offering a fast, flexible, scalable and effective solution for companies faced with :
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Difficulties in recruiting the right talent
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An immediate need for resources during crisis management
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The need to outsource specific tasks
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The need to select consultants for a specific project
Unlike traditional interim management companies, The Links stands out from the crowd and focuses on a purely B2B approach, offering tested, immediately operational profiles within 48 hours, with real consulting DNA, who are under permanent contract with a consulting firm. This solution offers a high degree of flexibility, particularly in the following cases:
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If the customer's needs evolve over time, it is possible to adjust the team very quickly with new skill
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If the customer's budget is limited, it's possible to mix and match the mission by involving several consultants of different seniority who know each other and are used to working together
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If the customer doesn't feel comfortable with a proposed resource, it's easy to change the consultant
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The Links ensures that customers are always satisfied with the resources provided
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An innovative matchmaking service
The Links is more than just a matchmaking service. Rather, it's a connection between organizations that lend talents, via a network of already some 50 partner companies of all sizes, including small, medium and large professional services and consulting firms, with companies that have specific resource needs. For each request, The Links carefully selects several profiles on which it has taken references from partner companies, and offers pricing conditions tailored to the customer's needs and budget.
Always with professionalism and dedication, this method ensures a perfect match between the customer's need and the specialist's skills, guaranteeing operationality from the very first hour. For service providers, working with The Links offers clear business development opportunities. For the corporate client, it's a flexible model that saves time and money. The business model is based on a percentage of the fees invoiced per day.
An evolving need on the job market
This innovative approach responds to the ever-changing needs of the job market, which is increasingly managed on a project and skills basis. By combining senior specialists with more junior profiles from the same service provider, The Links succeeds in reducing intervention costs while promoting better adaptation and exchange within teams. A real plus for companies.
The company operates in a variety of industries, including fiduciary, finance, IT, project management, legal, compliance, supply chain and human resources. But also in performance management, transaction support and C-Suite positions. Other areas of expertise will still be added. With her natural interest in helping people achieve their goals, her sincere, pragmatic and dynamic personality, Juliette plans to expand The Links' service offering by developing partnerships with more service and consulting companies.
At the same time, it is planning to expand into other markets, proving that The Links model has the potential to grow and adapt.
The Links is more than just an intermediary between companies and specialists. It's a revolution in the recruitment of transition managers, specialists and skills outsourcing. It's the right answer to the challenges of an ever-changing job market.
The Links: A flexible, agile & adaptable recruitment model
HR Today - April 2023
You launched a new specialist brokerage concept, which includes transition management. Can you explain the model to us?
Since December 2022, I have been offering an on-demand specialist brokerage service. In other words, I put service providers (selected Professional Services or Consulting firms) in touch with private or public companies that need a specialist for a specific period of time.
What makes your model different?
This concept does not exist elsewhere, because it's a B2B model. I don't work with individuals like most transition management companies. I bring together companies that lend talent with whom I have created partnerships, together with organizations that have specific needs for the duration of an assignment.
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What are the advantages of this new offer?
For the client, it is a flexible, agile and adaptable model. The links selects several service providers to choose from, with profiles and pricing conditions in line with the customer's needs and budget, and returns with a solution usually within 48 hours. This can be interesting, for example, for a long-term project which requires specific skills, for a replacement of a long-term leave, or to fill a need before recruiting a permanent employee. For certain mandates, it can be interesting to pair a senior specialist with a more junior profile from the same service provider. The two people know each other and are therefore used to working together. This formula reduces the cost of the mission. Our profiles are people with a consultant's mindset: they are used to moving from one customer to another, and are operational from the very first hour. Their skills have been tried and tested, and if things don't work out, we quickly put forward another profile.
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Who are the companies lending out their talents?
These are large, medium and small professional services and consulting companies.
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Can you tell us about the cost of a mandate?
This will depend on the complexity of the mandate and on the number of hours involved. The advantage for the company is that it does not have these professional consultants on their payroll. The client company has just one contact person, The Links, who negotiates for them the best rates in line with their budget with the consulting and service company that will supply the talent.
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What is the business model ?
The business model is based on a percentage of the fees invoiced per day.
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In which field of activity are you active ?
All fiduciary professions, legal and compliance, project management, strategy, IT, mergers & acquisitions and C-level positions. All the traditional activities of large consulting firms. I'm currently working on solutions for HR and the supply chain.