Futurefind - Futurefind

Extended Case Study

Project Argon

Helping an established deal team to build out their 'engine room' to further aid ambitious growth targets moving forwards. Project completed across Q1/Q2 of 2024.

Multiple Hires Leveraged Cashflow Leveraged Finance Sponsor Finance

Book Meeting

The Situation

An established Leveraged Cashflow team which operates across both Sponsor-backed and Non-Sponsor markets, is seeking to significantly grow their book over the next 2-3 years.

In support of this, Future_find were mandated to make 6 deal support hires across their 2 origination teams.

Candidates must have transaction experience.
A mix of specialist sector focus would be beneficial given the agnostic nature of the deal team.
A mix of career journeys and experiences would be beneficial for ensuring diversity amongst the team and the added value which comes with this.
Candidates must be adaptable to a changing environment as the business grows.
Candidates must strike a balance between a desire to progress in the future, but also recognising the immediate team-need for their role at the current Analyst level.

Sponsor Finance

Origination Team #1

Unitranche, Venture Debt and ARR Loans.
Presence of existing investor (VC, PE or Family office) in company shareholding.
Experienced and stable management team in place.
Minimum enterprise value depending on product.
RCF, acquisition and capex facilities on request.

Non-Sponsor Finance

Origination Team #2

UK SMEs without PE / VC involvement.
Cash-generative businesses with track record of profitability.
Amortising profile with interest-only periods and bullet options available.
Can be combined with working capital facilities as a comprehensive solution to support commercial loan structures.

Challenges

With each hire, there were common challenges presented. Putting aside the obvious challenge of sourcing talent with relevant transaction backgrounds, there were also the following considerations:

Candidate Competition

These hires were being made in a 'candidate short' market. Acquiring the skill set of a transaction experienced Analyst who can add value to the end-to-end origination / execution process, was highly sought by competing lenders and investors.

Candidate Pools

The industry sector and team lends itself to multiple background options, whether it be; Bank, Fund, Alt. Finance, Sponsor or Advisory. Making sure we had strong coverage across each pathway was crucial to ensuring we had conducted a thorough search.

Candidate Engagement

Due to the high market-competition for recruiting this talent, it was imperative to not only win over the initial attention of each candidate, but to also keep them engaged and have them buy-in to our process more than any other they were currently in. With the ultimate goal of managing through the best talent to successful hire.

Candidate Culture

Given the possible mix of environment backgrounds, making sure each placement would be comfortable and could thrive in our Client's own environment is a key requirement to give ourselves the best chance at a successful long-term placement.

Method

Throughout the project there were multiple steps taken to address and overcome the highlighted challenges, briefly summarised below:

Candidate Competition

Getting to know the management team and gain understanding of the bigger picture allows us to educate candidates beyond a job description and company website. Giving candidates a real insight into the goals and roadmap of a team produces a much more tangible experience to hold onto, when comparing your role against others in the market.

Candidate Pools

Creating a full market-map was essential to having a starting point for possible avenues to source candidates from. This was worked in collaboration with the hiring team so we were also able to identify particular companies of interest as a talent source, but more importantly companies that weren't of interest. Along with leveraging our own experience and our client's insight, this was also achieved through use of industry data and AI sources.

Candidate Engagement

Keeping a process on track is pivotal to candidate engagement. For instance, introducing structured timelines reduces process-lag and significantly lowers drop outs. Additionally, by creating engaging candidate materials - such as this demo candidate brochure (click for download) - for your hiring process, separates our clients from other hiring competition.

Candidate Culture

Ultimately this comes from getting to know the candidates as well as we know your business and your team. Building these relationships makes all the difference, a significant investment of time and possessing the learned skills of understanding people, allow us to guide your process culturally as well as professionally.

Candidate Experience

#1 Analyst (London)

David went above and beyond in his support during my application. His honesty, positivity and encouragement made the interview process smoother than I could have hoped for. He was a pleasure to collaborate with and someone I'd recommend 10x over.

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#2 Analyst (London)

David was an absolute pleasure to work with. He was extremely supportive throughout the whole process and helped to prepare me excellently for the various interview stages. I'd highly recommend him if you are in need of a role!

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#3 Analyst (North, UK)

David was incredibly helpful and attentive through the entire process, regularly following up with me. He was on hand to answer any questions I had, which ensured I was thoroughly prepared. He had a very strong understanding of the characteristics and experiences the company were seeking and helped me highlight these qualities in the recruitment process.

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David has made the process simple and low impact. I can trust his recommendations of who to meet first and his insight into candidates skillsets and motivations has made the process meaningfully more efficient.

By making it simple and timely, with quality candidates all the way through, I have been able to focus on the people and ensuring the best fit for each role.

Managing Director, Team Argon