While working in the recruiting industry in the early 2000s, Wendy Kerkhoff noticed that people were extremely dissatisfied with the recruitment process as a whole. In Wendy’s words, “people had to use it, but they hated it, there has to be a better way.”
Many companies felt as if they didn’t have a choice when it came to recruiting. Either they found the employees themselves or paid a firm to find the talent for them. The model as a whole was broken and many people were frustrated with the system, including Wendy. At this time, job boards were very prolific. Monster, Workopolis and Indeed is where everyone was going to find their talent, not because this was the best option, but because they didn’t know how else to find the right people for the job.
The problem with this model is that everyone was trying to fish in the same pool of talent. If there was one outstanding candidate, it was a race to see who could get the candidate first before their competitors did.
That’s when I realized there has to be other ways to find talent. These were just the people who were actively looking for jobs. What about the people that were out working? That’s where the talent really was, with their heads down not actively looking for a job.
Wendy estimated that passive job-seekers represent 75-80% of the market and quickly realized these are the people organizations needed to target to fill jobs. But how exactly do you find the people who aren’t looking?
That’s where research comes in. Through the course of time, Wendy trained with an organization in the United States where she discovered how to utilize research to find the right people and information about talent. Rather than utilizing job boards as her talent pool, Wendy implemented research to identify key people and key trends within industries providing her clients with a true competitive advantage.
Intellidig Research Group Inc was officially formed in 2002. Wendy’s first client, Deloitte came to her with the desire to take a more innovative approach to their recruitment, and this sparked the beginning of a very collaborative and fruitful partnership. Since beginning with Deloitte, Wendy and her team have honed the business model and have worked with many businesses, large and small including such high-profile clients as Hershey’s, GE, Rogers, Bell, Suncor, Shell and many others to not only identify talent, but to help identify talent-related trends and strategic insights within industries as a whole.
Over time, the collection and analysis of talent related data morphed into another very unique service area that Intellidig has branded as People Intelligence ®. Providing real-time actionable talent and workforce related insights that help organizations gain a competitive advantage through gaining a deeper understanding of their talent landscape along with strategic insights not found anywhere else.
Whether your organization is looking to increase your talent pool, relocate to a new city or sharpen your competitive advantage, Intellidig can provide your company with the most relevant, right-now actionable insights to optimize your workforce. This data-driven research provides your company with insights and industry trends that are unique and tailored to your business needs. Wendy is proud to lead a team of researchers who know how to dig deeper to find the results that companies need to shape business decisions.
There’s a lot of things that I look back on and am proud of, but I have to say surviving in business is something to be very proud of in itself. Many businesses don’t make it past the five year mark, it’s a milestone. We have now been in business for 15 years. I’m really proud of what we have developed in the business and the high-profile organizations we have served and look forward to continued growth and innovation to match an industry that is experiencing rapid change.