Fulfilling a vacancy only creates value if the candidate is still there months later.

Making a hire is one thing. Making a hire that stays, grows with the business and delivers long-term value - something else entirely.

A London-based technology consultancy came to us because retention had become a recurring problem.

Previous agencies had been able to find candidates, but too many of those hires simply didn't last. Technically capable people were joining the business, only to discover that consultancy wasn't the environment they were looking for, the candidates just we’re the right ‘fit’.

The cost wasn't just financial - every unsuccessful hire meant another recruitment process, another delay to client projects and another setback for the teams trying to grow.

Frustrated, and aware of our work with other businesses in their field, they reached out for a conversation.

What resonated in that introduction wasn't simply our ability to recruit technical talent, but our experience and understanding that consultancy hiring requires more than matching technical skills to a job description - it needs a good culture fit.

From the outset of our support we took a different approach.

We spent time understanding what each role actually looked like day to day, how their consultants interacted with clients and what made people successful within the business beyond their technical expertise.

Armed with the knowledge, we could then have open, honest conversations with potential candidates.

Rather than trying to persuade every good engineer to take the job, we focused on identifying the people who would genuinely thrive in a consultancy environment.

Sometimes that meant advising candidates that the opportunity wasn't the right fit - and that honesty benefited everyone.

Over the course of the partnership, we delivered more than 35 permanent placements across Software, Platform and Data disciplines. More importantly, those hires stayed.

Ben Woodward, Co-Founder of Accelero, said:

"Retention starts long before a candidate accepts an offer. It starts with being honest about the role, the environment and what's expected. Consultancy is hugely rewarding for the right people, but we know that it isn't the right fit for everyone. We'd rather have a candidate turn down an opportunity before recruitment concludes, than accept a role they'll leave just weeks later.”

Our focus on matching people to the right environment created the kind of retention that makes recruitment partnerships valuable over the long term-for both client and candidate.

If you're investing too much time replacing people who never should have been hired in the first place, we'd love to discuss taking a different approach.