While technology has changed how recruiting is conducted, the core of KBW Financial Staffing & Recruiting’s approach has remained steadfast throughout the organization’s 20-year history: Focusing on relationships with clients and candidates.
“The fundamentals of what recruiting is will never change. Companies struggle to hire and attract top talent and they need someone to help find them,” says Sean Dowling, president. “We’ll always be that middle person to help broker the sourcing and placement of talent.”
The company, a division of BANKW Staffing, has two offices in NH, including its corporate headquarters, as well as four locations in Massachusetts. KBW Financial Staffing & Recruiting has 51 recruiters who work with companies to fill finance and accounting, financial services, and public accounting roles. On average, the firm fills about 650 roles a year, Dowling says.
Technology is changing how many roles get filled. “How we [recruit] is unbelievably different from the last five years with technology,” Dowling says. “The speed at which technology is improving is helping us to try to raise the engagement level with clients and customers.”
It’s easier than ever for candidates to apply to many jobs, and companies often face an overload of applicants. That’s where KBW Financial Staffing & Recruiting comes in, to help find high-quality candidates who match not only the technical requirements of a position, but also the soft skills. “KBW’s value has been that we really work with both [clients and candidates] to make that high quality match,” Dowling says.
Dowling’s advice for job seekers and hiring managers is to make the interview a conversation. For candidates, this means being curious and ready to ask questions, Dowling says.
Moving forward, the company is demoing tech tools to see how they can layer in technology to make the customer and recruiter experience more efficient, Dowling says, as well as planning to expand in the New England area. “It’s very much a family type of an organization,” he says. “The owners are still hands-on and in the business, but they let the recruiters do what they do.”