Martin Tripp Associates: what sectors and job titles do we recruit for?

Last month, I had a surprising conversation with a regular media client. He’s used Martin Tripp Associates extensively over the years, but only to help headhunt content roles. I was amazed that he was unaware we also recruit in other areas – heads of digital, marketers, general management, commercial roles, strategy directors, and so on…

So, being a statistics geek, I thought I would share the following infographics with you. They help visualise what it is we do here. Based on last year’s activity, the first chart shows a breakdown of our assignments for media clients according to the disciplines we recruited.

While ‘General Management’ was the largest single category we worked on, the big rise was for ‘Product/Insight’ roles and this reflects a trend toward better-informed product development and customer-led innovation.

We have also seen rapid growth in demand for digital-savvy commercial leaders. They are in short supply, and highly prized by their employers; like the Product/Insight people, the best are only found and recruited by a thorough search process.

For the sake of clarity here, it should be noted that to create this chart, it was necessary to group certain titles together, sometimes uncomfortably. For example, in the ‘Product/Insight’ group, we have included placements such as head of customer discovery & innovation, commercial product manager and director of strategy.

The General Management category largely incorporates anyone with full P&L responsibility – from the previously mentioned heads of digital, to publishing directors, and CEOs. Operations/Finance includes CFOs and COOs, of course, but also includes project and programme directors. Technology incorporates CTOs as well as senior level UX and UI specialists. In an ever-changing media world, the titles change as fast as the technology.

This second chart shows the main business activity of our clients according to the breakdown of their revenues.

As these charts reveal, we are equally comfortable in consumer or B2B environments, and have extensive experience in the digital and data worlds.

Of course, in an increasingly convergent world, most of our clients have fairly large interests in all of the above; often, we recruit digital know-how into non-digital businesses, or events experience into data companies, for example.

We have recruited for clients around the world – primarily in the UK and US, but also in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. As an example of our reach, one project we worked on involved recruiting senior people in London, New York, Washington, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfurt, Paris, Sao Paulo, and elsewhere.

What the charts do not do, however, is explain how we work.

Each of our jobs is approached in the same methodical way. As a specialist headhunting firm, we first undertake a detailed mapping of the market, with our clients’ closest rivals at the centre. We then go out and speak to specialists in each sector to get their take on who the best people are (we often speak with over one hundred people in this phase). We then approach by telephone each targeted candidate in order to sell them the opportunity, and interview the best of them face to face.

At the end of the process, a shortlist with extensive interview notes is presented to our clients, in order to inform their own first meetings. After which, we continue to advise clients on the best approach to take in subsequent interviews and become their partner in making the final selection.

It is an exhaustive process, but highly effective. That is why we are able to offer a six-month guarantee on each search.

We would welcome the chance to tell you in more detail about our process, and what it is that makes it so efficacious.

Please feel free to give us a call any time; we are always happy to talk.