Eight Months of Process, Then Two Hires

Becoming a supplier to a listed publisher is a serious undertaking, and it should be. These companies carry obligations to shareholders, regulators and their own employees, and the diligence they apply to vendors exists for good reason.

We first spoke to this publisher in December. Early on we were asked to work to a rate structure they had standardised across their agency panel , bands tied to salary levels. Those were rates we would normally apply to retained work. We said so, and then agreed to them, because a consistent panel structure is a legitimate thing for a company that size to want, and the relationship was worth more to us than the margin on a first hire.

Over the following months we worked through vendor risk assessment, supplier onboarding and a full legal review. Their legal team was thorough , they identified a discrepancy between our tax registration name and our contracting name that we had not flagged ourselves, and we were glad they caught it.

Partway through, our original contact moved on to a new role elsewhere. Her colleague picked the engagement up. This happens in every long enterprise process, and the handover worked because both sides kept good records.

Our job through all of it was to make sure the recruitment kept moving while the paperwork did. We tracked candidate status closely on our side and raised anything that looked out of date, so that nobody was working from a stale picture. And we kept bringing them people , in the same week we were completing supplier forms, we put forward a 3D lead animator and asked to refer a candidate into a senior animator role at their Toronto office.

Two placements followed, in August and September.

THE DETAIL WE ARE PROUDEST OF

During contract negotiation we did not just ask them to move quickly. We asked them to make sure every term already agreed over email was captured correctly in the draft, so that a second round would not be needed. Asking for speed is easy. Doing the reading that prevents the next delay is the useful part.

"Enterprise onboarding is long for good reasons. Our job is to keep the hiring moving while it happens."