The Covid pandemic has changed the way things are done, especially in remote recruitment... which has shortened the distances between companies and consultants, and between consultants and potential candidates. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The Covid pandemic has changed the way things are done, especially in remote recruitment... which has shortened the distances between companies and consultants, and between consultants and potential candidates. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Founded by the former deputy CEO of Meetic, Sylvie Fleury, and backed by serial entrepreneur Marc Simoncini, the French start-up Hunteed, which specialises in recruitment, has opened a branch at the House of Startups.

The Luxembourg ecosystem of recruitment technology solutions has a new member. "But not a member like the others," says Isabelle Weill, who heads Hunteed's Luxembourg branch at the House of Startups. "Our solution brings together recruitment consultants, whether they are independent or in a firm, and companies that want to outsource their search for the right candidate," she explains.

On , the company starts by writing an assignment, which is reviewed by the sales team to ensure that its terms will match with a candidate or candidates. The 1,400 consultants who are registered for free on the platform-- 600 are active on a regular basis--will get the assignments for positions for which they have expertise. They will "qualify" a candidate and suggest them to the company. This saves businesses the trouble of managing dozens of applications and allows them to finalise the recruitment after "traditional" processes. In France and Switzerland, up to five consultants can be entrusted with the mission. In Luxembourg, ten will be active to begin with.

"We started in France in 2016. Last year, we started our activities in Switzerland. In 2021, we achieved a turnover of €2.5m, up 140%. Teleworking has helped us a lot, because the whole initial phase is done via remote tools," says Weill, adding: "Our idea is now to look at the Luxembourg, but also the Belgian and Dutch markets. In these markets too, there is a strong tradition of recruiting via intermediaries. There are also many similarities between Switzerland and Luxembourg, such as the level of requirements or language skills, even if salaries are higher in Switzerland.”

From dating to working

The salary has an impact on what the company will pay to find the right candidate. Either it stays with the basic formula and will have to pay 18% of the candidate's annual salary to have a one-month "guarantee" (i.e. if the candidate is not suitable for the company, during the first month, the consultant tries to find a replacement), or 20% to have a two-month guarantee. Another option is to subscribe to one of the three subscription formulas, from €400 to €1,200 plus 15% of salary and different levels of guarantees. This works best for companies that have a lot of vacancies, as is often the case in the Big Four.

Founded by the former deputy CEO of Meetic, Sylvie Fleury (current CEO), and backed by the serial entrepreneur Marc Simoncini, the start-up, still in the hands of the small number of initial investors, has not yet needed to raise money to boost its growth. It is, however, considering it, with regular clients such as Airbus, Swatch, Coca-Cola, Fnac, Engie, Leroy Merlin, Auchan, Boulanger and Bouygues.

It is not surprising that its founders have moved from a dating site to a recruitment site. Between the employee and the company, a kind of love affair develops too. "Let's rather say that the technology takes the work of prospecting for assignments off the consultants' shoulders and they can devote themselves to the human dimension of their work, finding the right candidate," concludes Weill. The other benefit is that consultants based anywhere in the world will have access to candidates that local recruiters would not think of or see.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.