Project reference · Beauty & wellness
When the market is thinner than the brief.
An international beauty and wellness chain was opening centres in the Gulf and wanted Ukrainian beauticians, masseurs, hairdressers and front-desk staff, all with working English. We ran it as a search rather than an advert. We cold-called the salons where those people actually work, measured every step, and checked each offer against what candidates had been promised before anyone signed.
832 salons, spas and hairdressers called directly
Head-hunting
1,399 applicants screened from advertising
Screening
Licensed recruitment abroad, no fees to candidates
Compliance
14 weeks from signed agreement to first departure
Deployment
The first month, measured
Two channels, one bottleneck
We reported the funnel to the client as the search ran. Its shape was the finding.
The brief
What the client actually needed
At first the list was long: eleven roles, from beautician and laser technician to sales manager and manicure specialist, and within days a request for dozens of interviews a day. Every candidate had to hold a real qualification, have two years of hands-on experience, and handle clients in English from the first week.
Recruiting from Ukraine for work abroad is licensed. Before a single advert could run, we needed a signed service agreement, the employer’s draft labour contract in Ukrainian and English, and the employer’s company documents attested for the licence file. We drafted the agreement in both languages and walked the client through each document the Ministry would ask for.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
The people exist, but not with English
Ukraine has thousands of skilled beauticians and masseurs. Very few of them work in English. After the first few hundred calls we told the client plainly that this, not advertising, was the bottleneck, and narrowed the brief with them to the three roles where it could work.
The offer has to match the advert
One written offer came in well below the package we had advertised, and housing had turned into an allowance. We held it back, asked the employer to explain every line, and it was raised before the candidate saw it.
Housing is the real salary
In the Gulf a housing allowance can decide whether an offer works at all. We priced local rents, put the numbers to the client, and told candidates the truth about accommodation before they flew.
Licence first, adverts second
The client wanted CVs the day after signing. We would not contact candidates until the agreement was signed and stamped, because that is what the licence requires. Once it was, four recruiters were on the phones the same day.
Three countries, one process
Head office in one country, HR in a second, centres in a third, and candidates in Ukraine. Interviews ran over Skype in the client’s time zone, with technical second rounds and a final interview with the HR director.
Measured, not guessed
Every call, CV and introduction was counted and reported, so the client could see where the pipeline narrowed and decide what to change, rather than wait for results the market could not produce.
What we did
Twenty weeks, three phases
- Agreed the fee and terms, drafted a bilingual service agreement and translated the employer’s labour contract.
- Rewrote the job descriptions for the Ukrainian market in Russian and English, and sent one targeted mailing to 11,000 candidates.
- Built a list of more than a thousand target salons, called 832 of them, screened 1,399 applicants and introduced 16 people with translated CVs.
- Checked each offer line by line against the advert, got the package raised, and met the first candidate at the airport with written travel instructions.
A candidate who feels misled is lost, and so is everyone they talk to. That is why the offer check mattered as much as the search.
In our words, at the time
“What we can see is that the market is quite limited for English-speaking candidates.”
Our managing partner, writing to the client’s HR director seven weeks into the search.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Hiring specialists from Ukraine for work abroad?
Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you whether the people you need exist in this market, and what it will take to bring them.
