CONNECT SOLUTIONS
Staffing by Consist is open, fair, and transparent
Find the Right IT Experts Fast
Do you need software developers or architects, IT consultants, project managers, or administrators? Are you unable to find the know-how and personnel resources you need among your
own ranks? Outsource costly personnel searches to Consist: We’ve been an established staffing partner on the market for 30 years!
In this interview with Eggert Gotthard, Vice President Staffing at Consist, you can see why our
customers are so satisfied and what we do differently from other staffing service providers.
Consist Connect: Mr. Gotthard, please describe briefly for
our readers how Consist handles
the successful brokering of experts
for a wide variety of customer projects.
Eggert Gotthard: We take the
approach of providing our customers with people who specifically
meet their individual situation – either employees or, very frequently,
freelancers or contractors. Our
prequalification process is a particular strength.
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Consist Connect: What does
this prequalification look like in
detail?
Eggert Gotthard: We ask our
customers to write down the requirement criteria for the project
in question, and check who in our
large pools of experts is suitable
and available. I actually know many
of the candidates quite well from
working with them for years. Then
we have the candidates themselves
look at the customer’s criteria catalog to check whether they meet the
requirements and how well.
We give the customer one to
three well-founded recommendations for specific candidates, together with a concrete offer and
the mapping the candidate just prepared. That gives our customer an
immediate feeling for whether the
offer is worth following up.
We’ve heard from many of
our customers that nobody does it
quite like we do. Our prequalification process is our most important
differentiating feature.
Consist Connect: What else
differentiates Consist from other
service providers?
Eggert Gotthard: In comparison with many very large consulting firms with their pricing set in
stone, we can often make an offer
of the same quality under more
favorable terms, since we customize offers individually. And we’re
faster!
Eggert Gotthard: Very frequently, the customer would like
to have an offer relatively quickly.
While other consulting companies
would rather take their time, we
always try to respond particularly
quickly. We usually succeed. Depending on the market situation,
we can provide an offer within a
day or two. There have often been
situations where I’ve managed to
successfully place an expert within
an hour of getting the request.
photos: Consist
Consist Connect: So how
long does it take from a customer
request to Consist’s offer, in your
experience?
Over 30 years of competence in the IT business: Eggert Gotthard has been on board since the
beginning at Consist and always has a current overview when offering qualified technical people
efficiently.
sist with the customer and each expert. This usually determines very
quickly whether everything works
out the way both sides expect it to,
especially for the customer. In the
next step, we agree on a personal
Our most important differentiating feature is
prequalification.
Consist Connect: What happens then, after you’ve recommended specific candidates to the
customer?
Eggert Gotthard: If the offer
meets with interest, we often first
organize a conference call at Con-
presentation of the candidate or
candidates. Our goal is to be present in person whenever possible.
That lets us provide helpful
tips during the meeting that the
customer may not have asked in
advance, but that will be important
for the candidate’s success. These
might include soft skills like teamwork or the readiness of an expert
to pass on his or her knowledge.
Immediately afterwards, we get
initial brief feedback from the customer. Then we talk about the next
steps and the other background requirements for the project.
I think it’s also obvious to keep
the candidates continuously informed about the ongoing status of
the negotiations, too, whether an
order will be placed or not.
Consist Connect: What range
of specialists can Consist offer their
customers?
April 2013 - CONSIST CONNECT 13
CONNECT SOLUTIONS
Eggert Gotthard: We have
access to experts from implementers to high-level project managers,
including even exotic know-how in
just about any industry or technology. We can find the right people
for projects anywhere in Germany
and even beyond.
they like to rely on outside people. That’s true for relatively short
projects and peak needs, but also
for longer-term needs where the
know-how required simply isn’t
available in-house. We can place
experts as needed for a few days or
for many years.
Consist Connect: You’ve
worked at Consist and specialized
in staffing for over 30 years. How
has the market changed over the
years?
Consist Connect: What is
particularly important to you personally about staffing?
Eggert Gotthard: The need
for external specialists has always
grown and continues to grow.
When companies need experts,
Eggert Gotthard: I love and
value open, fair, and transparent
communication – with the customer and also with the experts we
place. That has really paid off over
the years.
Consist Connect: Mr. Gotthard, thank you for this informative talk.
Isabel Braun conducted the interview.
For further information:
Eggert Gotthard
Phone: +49 (0)431/3993-530
e-mail: gotthard@consist.de
Opinions about staffing by Consist:
From …
… a large engine production
company:
…. freelance specialist Stefan Lorson:
… Senior Account Manager
Michael Voelkel at Consist:
„“Recently I was looking
urgently for an expert in the
Oracle/Primavera/BI publishing area. We scanned the market
and couldn’t find any suitable
specialists on our own. Consist
had top experts located from a
company certified by Oracle for
Oracle and Primavera within a
week.”
“Consist placed me a year
ago as the overall project leader
in a challenging project that will
run at least until 2015, at a company in the public law insurance
sector. As a freelancer, of course,
I’ve very happy about the longterm perspectives in this exciting field. I will be very happy
to work with Consist in the future.”
“When I want to offer my
customers the right experts for
their projects, I often work with
my colleague Eggert Gotthard
beforehand. He specializes in
staffing at Consist and can be relied on to recommend suitable
technical people quickly.”
14 CONSIST CONNECT - April 2013