Indotronix worked through various challenges, such as a limited local talent pool, achieving a submission rate of 100% for all positions

OVERVIEW

It is a common saying that when two people take seven steps together then they form a bond of friendship. At Indotronix, we reimagine that concept on an institutional scale. Each client, assignment and location warrants a unique approach, a different set of steps, with the ultimate aim of cultivating a thriving relationship. One of our first large utility clients affirmed the success of our approach by simply saying this when asked about their experience with Indotronix:

“Wherever we are going, we’d like to take you with us”

This simple statement summarizes a dynamic relationship carefully cultivated over a decade. How did we get here? What were the steps we took? Let us walk you through them:

Background

This client has been a fixture in the utility industry for over a century. Headquartered in the northeast of the United States, they currently provide electricity and natural gas services to millions of customers across Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Rhode Island. Indotronix’s relationship with them began seven years ago when we were brought on as a vendor for their IT segment, our role has since expanded and we are now a vendor in all categories. Whilst our prior success in the IT sector had gotten our foot in the door, we went on to prove ourselves in an unfamiliar industry; navigating hiring in a remote location and adhering to strict criteria. Here are some of the challenges we had to overcome and how they changed over time:

Challenges

• Limited Local Talent Pool: At first, our client did all their hiring onsite and weren’t looking to hire remote workers. All hiring had to happen around the remote region where the company was headquartered. Once we exhausted the local talent pool, our recruitment teams would expand the search to nearby locations, looking for high quality candidates and then persuading them to relocate.
  Furthermore, though they are open to hiring H1s and OPT’s now, initially, the client was not looking to hire candidates on H1 visas as they did not have the resources to convert them to full-time positions. This narrowed the local talent pool even more.
• Hiring During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Due to the pandemic, almost overnight, all positions became either remote or hybrid. As a consequence, we were no longer limited to the local talent pool and were free to source quality candidates from across the country. It was no longer a challenge to find competent candidates with the right skills and we focused our efforts on finding talent with the right profile at the right rate.
  Some challenges we faced were specific to the roles we were hiring for and were resolved through the ingenuity and resourcefulness of our account managers and their recruiters.
• Hiring for multidisciplinary UX/UI roles: Our account manager described UX/UI roles as being “a couple positions rolled into one”. This is because these roles demand a varied set of skills from the candidate, often needing them to have both technical and managerial experience. Sourcing candidates who meet all the requirements is a long and intensive process.
• Head-hunting for Specialized Engineering Roles: DER Engineering roles often require candidates that possess a very niche set of skills and most eligible talent are already well-settled in similar roles at other companies. Motivating candidates to make the switch can be tricky.

Results:

• Our performance encouraged the client to approach us for engineering, project management, and other non-IT roles before eventually taking us on as a vendor in all categories. We have consistently ranked amongst client’s top 3 suppliers over the past five years.
• Our account managers and their teams had a submission rate of 100% and a fill rate of ~40%.
• Recently, the client has adopted an offshore model for system admin and web admin roles, riding the momentum of their expansion into remote roles, and our performance thus far led to us being shortlisted as one of two preferred vendors in India.
• Our performance on this account has led to us being recognised as Supplier Partner of the Year multiple times (2022, 2023, 2024).

Conclusion:

Here we are, seven steps later, as a thriving partnership. Is there a formula? Something one must do or say? A certain number of steps one must take to cement a relationship with a client? In our decades of experience working alongside numerous clients, Indotronix has found time and time again that it isn’t the number of steps that matters when building a relationship. Rather, there is only one step that matters: the next one.