Our Principles

The most often used, and abused, phrase in recruitment is "I'm a headhunter, can we talk?" with its connotations with undercover activity and large salaries. It is a phrase used and then abused by most recruiters who because of corporate pressures and policy are only looking to make money and will treat, and mistreat, all candidates as numbers.

By talking about the methodology used by 31.71 we will distance ourselves from generally held recruitment practices that persist.

The principles, which govern our actions, are ethics, discretion and honesty.

The objective is to find the right person(s) for each client, and vice-versa.

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Our Methods

It is valuable for both our clients and candidates to understand our methods in the recruitment process.

  • Clients
  • Candidates

It is necessary to generalise about client methodology, as every new assignment is unique, requiring its own strategy in the research, name gathering, execution and management components.

Research: We will attempt to find approximately two dozen individuals and/or companies who may have the possible skills, job title, location, salary level etc that could come closest to your requirements.

Name Gathering: We will discreetly find the full names, titles, direct phone numbers, home and mobile numbers, if possible, of the individuals we have identified.

Execution: We will approach each individual and discover any desire to seek a new opportunity. Client details are not divulged at this stage. We seek motive and ambition not greed and desperation.

Typically at this stage, a tenth of the targeted candidates will refuse the opportunity as they may have recently taken on their role, been promoted, had a substantial pay rise etc. A further third will relish the opportunity, but will be unqualified.

The remaining, and now qualified, candidates will be questioned, asked to produce a detailed CV, be told the name of the client and the details of the opportunity. Of these a shortlist of the three or four most qualified individuals will be presented.

Management: We will organise the interviews, first, second and possibly third, prepare and debrief both client and candidate for each and every meeting, test the candidates, handle the offer, counsel the resignations and be available during the notice period.

Our assignment is deemed to be complete on the actual starting date.

.31.71 is introduced to candidates mainly as a result of referral by customers, clients and peers and through assignment research.

We make it our business to know, and to find out, who the star players, decision makers and top performers are by having industry specific conversations with known industry figures, by attending trade fairs and exhibitions and by subscribing to and reading industry specific journals and news services.

In short we are specialists who understand what you do and the environment in which you do it.

As well as the above processes we will occasionally work with exceptional candidates in order to introduce them to companies and organisations that will benefit from their specific skills.

Rather than use candidates to "ambulance chase" current vacancies and existing client lists, we try and ensure that candidates and clients fit together, in personality and culture, in aspiration and reward and in ambition and development.

We have recently launched a new service for candidates - Recover. Only after in depth conversations can we discover which criteria are to be used to research the target companies. Together we will produce a definitive CV, analyse strengths, weaknesses and motives, then we will plan the campaign.

Now we are ready to approach the potential clients. We then work through a thorough process of qualification, questioning, preparing interviews and their subsequent debriefing, till finally we reach the offer, acceptance and resignation stages.

If you wish to find out more then contact us for a preliminary conversation.