An Italian Headhunter in London: interview with Aldo Razzino on new recruitment practices

An Italian Headhunter in London: interview with Aldo Razzino on new recruitment practices

What are the key differences in being a Headhunter in Italy and in London? How will recruitment evolve over the next few years? Is it still possible to innovate in headhunting in Italy? We asked all of these things to today’s #RecruitingGuru: Aldo Razzino.


1. Introduce yourself to readers Aldo

Hi, I’m Aldo Razzino and I work as a Headhunter in London’s Open Search Network. I have 9 years’ experience in headhunting. The first three years I worked at Michael Page in Milan, in Dept. Engineering – Team Technology, where, let’s say, I did the bones. In February 2010 I came to London and started working for K2 Partnering Solutions, managing the permanent team in London from last year.

Since I came to London, I’ve shifted my focus from SAP, which I had in the early years, starting to look for profiles on emerging technologies. In April 2013 I decided to do my startup, Open Search Network. Having to decide which market to launch into, I immediately picked up a niche where I could find space. Considering that: 1) the market that I could develop more quickly was Italy 2) the niche professionals who “were” to become hot in Italy (they were already in the UK but not yet in Italy) were those In Digital & Data; I focused on the research and development of the company on issues of Digital transformation & Advanced Analytics.

The first year I worked alone, often remotely, both in the UK and in Italy, with clients or home-based. Since 2014 OSN has begun to grow and to date, we are a team of six headhunters, based in London, with one main feature: we are the first headhunting company specialising in the Italian market, for specific individuals, in Data (Data Science, Data Engineering, Data Strategy).

2. What are the key differences between recruiting in London or in Italy?

The main difference is specialisation. In Italy I worked in the Technology team and just because we were in the startup phase, I was able to focus on SAP but the approach was and should be “generalist IT”. Ever since I came to London, I’ve always been hyper-focused first on a technology (SAP), now a scope (Data).
The generalist approach produced a low customer redemption (few returned to do more than two placements per year). Specialisation has allowed me to increase both the value (Big4, Multinational, International Banks) and the redemption of customers (more customers allow us to follow 10/15 mandates per year).

3. What are the main trends for you in recruitment-headhunting?

In my opinion, in four to five years we will have no office. We will be much more remote and “on the go”. The collaboration and sharing tools available on the market today allow a real-time relationship with both your team and your contacts, customers, or candidates.
The headhunter’s function will resist the digital revolution if it is to specialise.

head hunting smart working

4. How is the impact of technology transforming the headhunting industry?

Technology helps us in every step of our process, and if used intelligently, it makes life easier.
I started using LinkedIn in 2007. Since then I have always tried to use the new recruitment technologies and collaborative tools available to develop new relationships.

In 2011 I made my first deal on Facebook. When I went to London for K2 Partnering Solutions, I also started dealing with managing social channels in the company by opening the Facebook page and starting to share content. A manager saw one of these pieces of content and contacted me to initiate a search (which closed in a month). This for me was proof of the effectiveness of social networks in the headhunting industry as well.

If used well, social (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn …) allows you to reach almost all candidates. If you think of using social only to increase the number of contacts, I think it is a short-sighted approach and will fail in the medium to long-term. You need to use social to better know your contacts (Social recruitment 2.0).
Last but not least, Analytics: today, but even more so in the future, it will be crucial to manage large amounts of data to manage a business that will be faster and faster.

5. Today we are witnessing a growing number of recruitment technologies, and this is likely to lead to a fragmentation between the various job recruiting platforms (job board, social recruiting, etc.). What do you think about using an ATS recruiting software to centralise search and selection?

I use a central ATS, integrated with our corporate website. Having a centralised, integrated system with the outside is a must to be able to do our job well and quickly.
Integration with the outside should help to work transparently, create trust and engagement.

For headhunting, it’s no longer important to have a CV or find a profile but to know the information to help both the client and the candidate in choosing the best opportunity.

6. What are the recruiting strategies and tactics you use with the greatest satisfaction in your business? Have they changed over the years?
At the beginning of my career, I sold, among other things, the “size of my database”. To date, I do not think this sales point is successful, because everyone can have a large db … bigger than yours.

Being specialised overcomes the fact that we do not have a famous brand behind us.

To have a list of high potential, always updated (live), and with a maximum number of candidates (for every new one I want to add I have to delete an old one) to allow you to respond quickly to the needs of the market.

7. Would you tell us a “case of success” in which you used an innovative approach to get applications?

From January 2016 we were exclusive partners for recruitment activities on Mathesia, and we are concerned with the technical validation of candidates in the “data” field.

Mathesia is a Crowdsourcing Platform for Mathematics as a Service, where companies can present math / statistical challenges (BigData) and the community of experts competes to present the best solution.

Since March, we have started recruiting through Mathesia, creating new functionality on the platform: the Call for Talent.

Call for Talent is a business case that is presented to candidates previously selected by OSN.

This approach offers both the client and the candidate the opportunity to share a concrete experience where innovation is in using a collaborative platform to provide a better recruitment experience, closer to real working life than a sterile collection of information.

8. We often hear that the recruiter’s role is getting closer to that of a marketer: is recruitment becoming like marketing?

I agree, but this applies to all professional categories. We live in an open and collaborative world, so we are all the “forefront” ambassadors of our own brands. Of course, it does not have to go down to the concept of the lowest marketer. We must always remember that the customer pays for professionality and quality.

recruitment intervista head hunter

9. Do you feel that the reputation and employer branding of your search and selection company influence the ability to attract candidates? How does your company promote its Employer Branding?

Being a small start-up in London, competing with other European companies, the employer branding is crucial. As I have already said, we are the first Ambassadors of our brand. In an open world such as we work in today, it is not possible to ignore Corporate and Employer Branding.

Working on the Employer Branding helps you develop strong and lasting relationships that allow you to develop opportunities over the years due to references and word of the mouth.

10. Is there a book that you would recommend to readers of our reader?

These 3 books helped me a lot from an “inspirational” point of view when I started up and in recent years.

1) Simon Sinek, Start With Why. He helped me to define the name of my company and frame its mission. The author explains how the most successful companies like Apple start thinking of a new product from “why,” just passing on to “how” and “what”. Commonly unsuccessful companies follow the opposite path. I decided to call my business Open Search Network because I’m an open person, and I think it’s impossible to be a recruiter without being open to sharing [the WHY]. How do I work? Through direct “Search” [the HOW]. What does my company do? It helps companies to look for personnel using their own networks [the WHAT].

2) CM Carter, Breakthrough. This is a motivational book of a very famous London coach who also works with the royal family. The kernel of the book is: how to be the best version of yourself, every day. It was very helpful in the start-up phase of my headhunting company when I had to go it alone. For example the first two months of work I woke up every morning, shaved, wore a suit and tie, even though I was working in a home office. In these cases, almost military motivation and self-discipline are crucial to not surrender to the first difficulties.

3) Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning. This is a very nice book I would recommend to anyone, I read it about a year ago, and it’s focused on finding a way to build new habits. In my personal case, it worked very well (I lost 15 kg, not to mention the economic results of the company: in the last quarter of 2015 we increased our sales by +147% compared to the same quarter of last year).