From a dynamic new force to an award-winning recruitment agency
Broadwing Recruitment SWOOPS Two Best-in-Business Awards
Broadwing Ltd was awarded the honours of Malta’s Best HR & Recruitment Company of the Year as well as Malta’s Best Employer of the Year in 2020.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Broadwing’s entrepreneurial spirit started with unique mix of talent and collaboration of minds between four experienced and well-established associates turned business partners, each boasting individual accolades in their respective fields.
Ben as Technical Director and Alan as Creative Director, both co-founders of a leading digital agency, knew the mechanics required behind creating a robust I.T & Web infrastructure that would hold its own against a nationally saturated market. All the while offering a vast amount of experience in marketing, branding, concept creation and being fully equipped with the creative flair to launch Broadwing as a memorable contender within the industry. John came with a decorated history of management and recruitment, while Richard brings to the table a strong financial background, also running a successful credit control company. Ultimately this made an unbeatable combination of business acumen and combined entrepreneurial spirit which was supported by a like-minded vision.
Entrepreneurship requires a unique attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change rather than waiting to adapt to change. At Broadwing it’s a collective mindset that starts from the top and trickles down through each member of staff. This is evident through the results we’ve achieved in terms of placements, sponsorship and brand awareness within our first two years. Together, we embrace critical questioning, innovation, tailored service and continuous improvement. For us it’s about taking ownership and pride in our organization and what we’ve achieved in a short space of time.
Contagious entrepreneurial spirit at Broadwing is important and means our staff need to feel empowered and inspired to believe anything is possible, have the tenacity and resources to accomplish and carve a successful career path for not only themselves, but the Maltese community, native or not. Regardless of whether an employee is a senior executive or a junior team member, everyone at Broadwing has a voice that needs to be nurtured, not criticized, in order to continue bringing innovative ideas forward.
Malta's Best-in-Business Awards 2019
Malta’s Best-in-Business Employer of the year & Malta’s Best-in-Business HR & Recruitment Company of the Year.
How does Broadwing Recruitment amplify entrepreneurial spirit?
We set an entrepreneurial example
Broadwing believes in fostering a diverse, multi-cultural and multidisciplinary team through a flat-based office structure, allowing its founders to lead by example, give advice and support their colleagues in both their work and personal lives. This encourages individuals to build relationships, share experiences, learn from one another in an ever-changing landscape.
We encourage a collaborative environment
Cross pollination of ideas is a must and although we’re experiencing notable growth, our team is small enough that everyone has a voice and input on everything, even if it’s not part of their core responsibility or strength. Historically, as companies have grown, they lose the diversity of ideas, fresh perspectives and innovation that can come from transparent communication, so for us it’s important that encouraging a collaborative environment remains engrained in our company culture.
We exercise transparency
Our employees have a clear understanding of the bigger picture, including all the costs, relevant financial information, threats, opportunities, and the future plans and direction of the company. This gives all the team members the opportunity to weigh in before decisions are taken.
We encourage flexible working
We offer our team a state-of-the art office with ample outdoor terrace space and promote a good work-life balance through not only a gym membership within the building, but also flexible working environment. This gives employees the freedom to make their own schedule and work at their own pace towards our targets, increasing productivity, engagement, loyalty and overall happiness within the company. All of which set a good foundation for better ideas and a more productive company.
We create a culture of questioning
We ignite our creativity when it comes to internal processes and entrepreneurial methodology by questioning ‘the norm’ and constantly optimizing our processes to ensure that we’re running at optimum efficiency, even if this means going against the grain and disrupting industry processes.
Strategic Direction
Building not only a recruitment business, but a brand from the bottom up was no easy feat. The first thing that was required was a bespoke, purpose-built website with implemented IT infrastructure, a marketing strategy that would compete with Malta’s already booming recruitment hard-hitters and branding that would propel Broadwing as a memorable contender amongst its many competitors.
Firstly, we started with extensive industry and competitive research to identify the values and areas of service, which form the backbone of the company, namely: Confidentiality, Sector Specialisation, Quality Service, Transparency, Communication, Strong Relationships, Employment Trends, Consistency, Understanding Clients, Integrity, Corporate Culture and Professionalism.
With the ground work done, we focused on building a strong and memorable brand to portray our vision. Using our natural love for nature and animals and in particular endangered species for inspiration, while keeping a focal point on where the company was conceived, Malta. The logo we opted for, was not just a bird of prey, but the Maltese Falcon (Peregrine Falcon) a.k.a. the fastest bird on the planet, with the sharpest eyesight. Essentially capturing what recruitment is all about: Speed and Sight (…and maybe a little hunting).
Next came the IT Infrastructure, combining a robust and reliable CRM platform with ATS capabilities and a modern, UX optimised website. Following an extensive feasibility study, we opted for the Bullhorn CRM based on its industry leading relationship management capabilities, extensive features, scalability for growth, and fully compliant with the then upcoming GDPR regulations. This infrastructure has helped u not only in winning new business, but making the most of existing customer relationships.
After a successful first year, curating, optimizing and extending Broadwing’s reach, we had the opportunity within the first quarter of year 2 to negotiate the acquisition of the Muovo recruitment brand, which had already been well established and in operation for over 10 years. While this in itself was a great business venture and worthy acquisition in its own right, adding a second stream and target audience to our candidate pool, the PR this gave to Broadwing was of great value due to Muovo’s good standing.
Upon taking over Muovo we soon established that Muovo required a breath of fresh air and complete brand revival. That in mind, we rebuilt the Muovo site entirely and re-established the brand as one of the most effective in recruitment with the support of a robust social media strategy to help with this.
With eyes still on Broadwing we kept Muovo as a separate and secondary channel to target clientele from a different angle rather than absorb it into the primary Broadwing brand.
While the initial website launch and continuous improvements have already registered an impressive top four ranking in Google first page results for several common search terms such as ‘Recruitment agencies in Malta’, with significant month-on-month growth in terms of organic website traffic and conversions, we have only just started implementing a two year plan. This plan aims to release new features and implement the latest SEO strategies to further increase our online reach, through a seamless visitor journey and a well-planned user experience.
Additionally, we focused heavily on PR exposing Malta’s leading recruitment and HR trends through interviews in prominent publications and speaking at leading events such as ZEST during the Delta Summit 2019.
Broadwing has also successfully scaled up its international partner network with other renowned recruitment agencies, relocation consultancies and internship training consultants to offer our stakeholders the best possible service.
Community Impact
As a recruitment business, we are in a unique position. The nature of our industry puts people at the heart of what we do. Therefore, community impact is something we hold close to our hearts and have measured since day one.
Since our conception, we have continued to emphasize and demonstrate a natural aptitude for social wellbeing and community impact. This means far more than providing our training and empowerment courses or holding our people-centric talks at some of Malta’s biggest conferences. We do a lot more than that, for example;
For our international clients and candidates, we introduced a relocation scheme, ‘The Safe Landing Programme’. Through this we made it our mission to make the process as smooth as possible, ensuring newcomers are fully settled with a high standard of living in no time at all with as minimal stress as possible.
As keen sportsmen, Broadwing’s staff were recently involved in the Blexr Charity Cup Football to raise money for cancer charity hospice Malta. We were part of 9 teams competing for the cup and as a collective, raised a great amount of money for a fantastic cause.
Aside from that, we’ve also involved ourselves in a few memorable events; one in particular saw us organise a South African Gathering commemorating their Freedom Day. The social event was held at Hammett’s Gastro Bar in Sliema and gave expatriates an opportunity to share their experiences of their move to the sunny Mediterranean island of Malta including topics such as the Maltese lifestyle, citizenship, residency, property & investment and finding a job in Malta. The event also doubled as a fund-raising activity for the Malta Guide Dog Foundation with attendees and organisers alike donating to the ‘Help a Blind Person Gain Independence’ campaign.
Aside from charitable events and relocation solutions for our candidates, we also have a training network in collaboration with Skillsoft, through which we conduct several training events per year including our first LEARN masterclass at the Malta Innovation Summit, whereby we held a class centered around Transforming Digital Dexterity. Delegates could learn how organisations and their people, through new means of learning and growth, can acquire the necessary skills to adapt to challenges stemming from today’s disruptive business environment.
For Broadwing community involvements such as the above are part and parcel of what we set out to do every day; we empower people to achieve their goals, whether that be through a job placement, setting up in a new country, helping others outside of the industry, or upskilling and training into a new industry.
The Blexr Cup 2019
Our Broadwing Raptors @ The Blexr Cup 2019! Ten teams mainly from the iGaming community went head-to-head. A big shout out to Blexr for hosting the first-ever Blexr Cup @ Luxol St Andrews Futsal Club. A fantastic day with colleagues, friends and new faces! And a great way to give thought for charity, in aid of Hospice Malta. Well done to all the teams who participated! ⚽ @pokerstars @tipicocareers @raketechgroup @betclic @comeon @leovegassverige @socios/chilliz @kindredgroup @rocksteady.digital @ Luxol Sports Club
Innovation
With the backing of our sister company Rocksteady, technology and innovation comes naturally to Broadwing. In an environment as competitive as recruitment, staying ahead of the curve is imperative in a dog-eat-dog world.
One of our biggest innovations came from the start and was the launch of our website and optimised recruitment portal, synchronised with Bullhorn, the leading CRM & application tracking system used by the global recruitment industry. We are proud to have received excellent feedback on our portal and services, having been quoted by top companies in Malta as ‘a refreshing change’ in the recruitment market. We are also very proud of the strong international network that we established this year, allowing us to better service companies in Malta which has a shortage of candidates needed to service an ever-growing economy. The team is always looking for ways to improve the candidate experience which led us to the launch of CheckMySalary.mt, a simple tool that calculates an individual’s NET salary.
Our drive and innovation didn’t end there with continued service offerings to companies and candidates alike including training courses, and better relocation packages. We are also in the process of developing a new job portal, yachtingcareers.com, which we plan to launch in 2020 before targeting international markets. We also have plans for the development of other free online tools related to the HR and recruitment industry. Our team is focused on improving the screening process for clients while safeguarding the interests of employers and candidates alike. We are also looking forward to strengthening our standing in the iGaming recruitment sector while establishing ourselves as the leading recruitment agency for the emerging Blockchain industry.
On the subject of blockchain, another exciting piece of innovation we’re curating involves developing an environment to create a next-generation recruitment platform for job seekers. Automating and building a decentralised online platform is an exciting project which brings transparency into the recruitment and contracting process. AI-enabled job matching and distributed ledger technology used to create smart contracts, verify and secure members’ personal information, and accrediting achievements with educational institutions are just some of the ways we’re doing this.
These are involvements and innovations that Broadwing are at the forefront of, not out of necessity, but because of genuine interest and drive for where the industry is going.
Personal Integrity/Influence
People are our most valuable resource. To us, this business is all about helping people – helping candidates to find a job they will love, and helping businesses find the right person for the role they need to be filled – we are very passionate about that. We strive to be open, clear and genuine in every interaction we have, and to provide advice that will actually help them to achieve their goals. We feel we have already managed to do that for many people since we opened Broadwing, and that is what drives us to keep growing the business from here.
Written By :
Alan Cini
Co-Founder, Director at BROADWING Job Placement Agency. Following extensive experience and expertise within the IT, Digital and Marketing industries. Engaged in Software Development, Graphic Design and Search Engine Optimisation.