Talent Attraction

Understand What Attracts Talent to Your Business

Employer perception and candidate research for HR teams across commodity trading, brokerage and financial markets

When suitable professionals decline an approach, withdraw from interviews or turn down an offer, the explanation you receive may reveal only part of the problem. Compensation, leadership, progression, commercial autonomy and perceptions of your business can all influence the decision.

Imperium Edge helps HR and business leaders investigate how relevant professionals view their organisation and its opportunities. We research the factors that encourage engagement, the concerns that discourage it and where the proposition may differ from what the intended audience values.

The brief can focus on a particular role, team, geography or recurring hiring challenge. Depending on the agreed scope, research can include conversations with relevant market professionals, previous applicants and former employees, alongside a review of the opportunity and recruitment experience.

The findings help you decide what to address before approaching the market again, from clarifying responsibilities and incentive arrangements to improving how the opportunity is presented and the hiring process is managed.

Find Out Where Interest Is Lost

Investigate the barriers between an initial approach, a productive interview and an accepted offer

A declined approach, an interview withdrawal and a rejected offer can point to different problems. Treating each as a compensation issue can leave the underlying concern unresolved.

Imperium Edge helps you investigate what relevant professionals understand about your business, how they experience the hiring process and what influences their decision. The research can distinguish concerns about the opportunity itself from gaps in communication, employer perceptions or practical barriers to moving.

Explore the stages below to see the questions a project could investigate and how the findings could inform your response.

Explore the hiring journeyIllustrative diagnostic · No conversion forecasts

Why Would Someone Engage?

A relevant professional declines or does not engage with the opportunity. Low response alone does not establish the reason.

Employer Perception

What We Investigate

What do relevant professionals understand about your business, leadership and market position? Are their views based on direct experience, outdated information or assumptions?

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Clarify the business proposition and address recurring misconceptions with evidence the firm can substantiate.

The Opportunity

What We Investigate

Does the remit offer a credible reason to move? Investigate the scope, decision-making authority, platform resources and prospects that matter to the intended audience.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Define the role and resources more clearly before taking the opportunity into further conversations.

The Approach

What We Investigate

Is the right audience being approached with a relevant message? Examine targeting, confidentiality, the information shared and whether the initial conversation gives people a reason to explore.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Refine the target group and introductory message, with an agreed approach to what is disclosed and when.

What Changes Once the Conversation Begins?

An individual engages initially but later withdraws or loses interest. Research can explore the experience behind that decision.

Role Clarity

What We Investigate

Do interviews describe a consistent remit, reporting line and set of expectations? Explore whether the role changes between conversations or leaves important responsibilities unresolved.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Align the interview team around a clear brief and give candidates consistent, specific information.

The Hiring Experience

What We Investigate

Investigate the interview stages, preparation, feedback and communication. Establish whether delays, repeated assessments or unclear next steps contribute to disengagement.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Review the sequence, decision ownership and communication so candidates understand what each stage is intended to establish.

Platform and Leadership

What We Investigate

What does the process reveal about leadership, culture and the ability to deliver the proposed opportunity? Explore concerns about resources, autonomy and the working relationship.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Prepare relevant leaders to explain the platform and substantiate the commitments that matter to the appointment.

What Prevents Agreement at the Final Stage?

A preferred individual does not accept or cannot make the move. The issue may extend beyond the headline salary.

Reward Structure

What We Investigate

Examine base salary, bonus mechanics, participation, caps, deferral and other package terms. Establish where expectations differ and what the individual understands about the arrangement.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Clarify the complete package earlier and consider changes against the research, internal priorities and agreed budget.

Practical Barriers

What We Investigate

Investigate timing, notice periods, restrictions, relocation and other personal considerations where relevant. Distinguish a resolvable issue from a condition the employer cannot accommodate.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Surface practical questions sooner and agree which options can realistically be supported.

Confidence in the Move

What We Investigate

Explore the perceived risk of leaving, the credibility of the remit and the factors behind any counteroffer or change of mind. Avoid assuming that a larger offer resolves the concern.

How Findings Could Shape the Response

Address the specific uncertainties, explain the transition and agree a realistic plan for joining and early support.

Examples illustrate questions a commissioned project could investigate. They do not diagnose a particular employer. Research scope, audiences, confidentiality and approaches are agreed with the client.

Give the Right People a Reason to Engage

Find Out Where Interest Is Lost

Investigate the barriers between an initial approach, a productive interview and an accepted offer

The people you want to attract need a credible reason to consider a move. They need to understand what the business can offer, what the appointment is expected to achieve and whether the resources and authority match those expectations.

We help you frame that proposition around the professionals you intend to approach. Research findings can inform how you explain the commercial opportunity, leadership, remit, remuneration and prospects, while identifying questions that should be resolved before the search begins.

Where commissioned, we can develop a candidate brief or company pack that brings those details together. It gives relevant professionals a considered introduction to the business and helps your interview team present a consistent account of the opportunity.

The material supports direct conversations and gives candidates something substantive to review. Confidentiality, the information included and the stage at which it is shared are agreed with you.

Bring Our Search Experience Into Your Hiring Strategy

Practical insight from representing employers and engaging specialist talent across international commodity and financial markets

Our search work brings us into direct conversations with professionals weighing up different employers, platforms and career moves. We hear the questions they ask, the commitments they scrutinise and the concerns that can bring an otherwise promising discussion to a halt.

We support businesses with different starting points, from established trading houses and brokerages to firms entering a new market or building a specialist team. Each faces different challenges in attracting people. Reputation, remuneration, leadership, resources and the credibility of the remit can carry different weight depending on the individual and the opportunity.

That experience informs our advice. We help you identify strengths worth bringing forward, gaps that need attention and claims that need substance behind them. The aim is to give the people you want to hire a clear, compelling and credible reason to choose your business.

Take a Stronger Proposition to Market

Carry the research, candidate materials and agreed hiring strategy into retained search

Where recruitment is the objective, we can combine talent attraction research with the search itself. We help clarify the opportunity, address the barriers identified and prepare the materials needed before engaging the professionals your business wants to hire.

Our partners, consultants and researchers then carry that understanding into competitor mapping, direct approaches and candidate assessment. Feedback from those conversations informs the assignment as it progresses, allowing us to discuss emerging concerns and refine the approach with you.

For a defined appointment or group of hires, retained search provides a dedicated assignment. Where requirements will evolve, a Search Partnership offers continuing research and recruitment support.

Explore Retained Search →
Explore Search Partnership →

Give the Right People a Reason to Choose Your Business

Discuss the barriers to hiring and the proposition you want to take to market

Discuss a Talent Attraction Project