Interview with Guillaume Girard, founder of VÉA Sourcing
Tell us about your professional background prior to VÉA Sourcing.
I joined the consulting world in 1995, where I learned the basics in an office and then went freelance in 2003, subcontracting to consulting firms or working on my own behalf for companies in France and abroad.At times a Consultant, Expert or Project Manager, I collaborated on more than a hundred projects, 2/3 in industry and 1/3 in services. I intervened on issues concerning performance improvement, cost reduction and, of course, my philosophy: Change management.
How did you get the idea to create VÉA Sourcing?
Firstly, customer demand for diverse and various skills, is constant; transformation projects, smaller project teams, lack of expertise, etc. Secondly, there are very few companies that are able to match the supply and demand for qualified professionals on a tight schedule. I learned at an early stage the vital importance of leading a global network of consultants, experts, interim managers and transition managers that I built patiently for 15 years.The idea has now come to industrialize this process through VÉA Sourcing.
What can VÉA Sourcing provide to companies?
A choice of suitable, handpicked profiles without all the negative pressure of a purely commercial approach, which is to "place at any cost".We only hire the "safe bets". Part of our expertise includes detecting suitable profiles of consultants, bringing further added value and peace of mind to companies that trust us. And we are also able to get involved in projects while accompanying them.
What is your business model?
We operate on a case-by-case basis, calculating our revenue based on success. We help our Clients pinpoint their needs. We are able to propose the best possible candidates to our Clients, even those who we ourselves would love to have on our team, if we were the ones hiring. We do not ask for any contribution from the members of our network, but remain very selective about who can join. I must add that we provide a clear legal framework and a "fair" and transparent compensation system, something that is rarely emphasized in this profession.
This business model allows us to improve our reliability and trust, which never fail to reflect upon the performance of our teams, with whom we work with mutual respect.
What qualities are required to intervene in this market?
We speak the same language as our Clients and Freelancers, which speeds up the process of picking a particular profile. We are all the more responsive as it is very important in this profession to process yesterday's requests for resources without degrading the quality of the profiles that are proposed. We have become "masters" of this difficult art.It takes a lot of perseverance. Of course, all our efforts are not always rewarded with missions for our candidates. Priorities change, help is no longer needed, tenders are not always won. The considerable energy used to look for eligible candidates does not always pay off. We are willing to take this risk because we believe accompanying our Clients at all times is our duty.
What kind of consultants is VÉA Sourcing looking for?
"Safe bets", fungible in corporate cultures that are sometimes contradictory. Men and women capable of rigor and independence from the very beginning of their mission and whose experience and active contribution are undisputed.Talented candidates who will prove to be strong links in their organizations and their respective projects, those who are reliable and who our Clients will, unanimously, find it easy to recruit or renew a fixed-term contract.
This helps us to continue to raise the standards of our global network. We do not intend to make it grow and create an overwhelming database of tens of thousands of profiles: we prefer to stabilize where we are, while increasing the employability of our members.
What is your business plan in 5 years, 10 years?
Our goal is to make VÉA Sourcing THE leader in the French market for management consulting recruitment in terms of freelance consultants and "pure player" consultants, in which we are currently expanding our business.Ultimately, our objective is to become the leading French sourcing company, known for its hard work and consulted again and again for its ability to provide concrete and almost immediate solutions to its clients, including the search for the "rare bird", which has become our specialty.
Push our field of action outside the borders of the hexagon? Why not? Today, 50% of our candidates are foreigners.
Continuing to find jobs for talented people gives us a great sense of satisfaction.