Talent acquisition in the fashion and beauty industry is a decisive activity in the competitive environment whereby fashion professionals of different affiliations and geographic contexts are challenged to reinvent themselves to become essential agents in international consumer taste. These individuals are contributors to the fashion system through creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, as well as tailoring business solutions for the consumption of culture and arts. These people become embedded in a business model that challenges long-established ideas about fashion, creativity, and the individual creative process. In a sector that increases production and consumption of these professionals’ speculative designs, the centrality of entrepreneurship requires an unwavering focus on the early development phase of fashion talents in order for fashion and beauty companies to achieve success in talent acquisition.
Although the fashion industry has earmarked increasing resources for the innovative capacities demanded by talent acquisition, there are still few protagonists in effective talent acquisition due to the creative nature of the sector. For companies with high potential to be innovative, it is necessary to identify and make effective recruitment of individuals whose hard and soft competencies will allow adaptation within the company’s environment, as well as upscaling technical skills. Companies must act in partnership with external organizations that enable selection based on both formal academic knowledge and related experience with aesthetic and market knowledge, as well as suitable creativity for a designer in the beauty industry. Objectives: This essay presents a critical overview of the last decade’s innovations in contributing to talent acquisition in the fashion and beauty industry by discussing and justifying its integration with trends in the sector. Aligning itself with these strategic trends is key to international recognition and contextualizes the service to lead innovation in talent acquisition internationally.
The Evolution of Talent Acquisition in the Fashion and Beauty Industry
The historical development of talent acquisition within the fashion and beauty industry can be traced back through changes in consumer behavior and branding to determine shifts in recruitment practices. The progression of talent acquisition from traditional hiring strategies and test markets to sophisticated digital and brand-aligned strategies has been exemplified by an evolving industry in response to consumer tastes, purchasing power, and trends. This chapter provides an overview of what constitutes talent acquisition within the context of the fashion and beauty industry and considers some core milestones that have shaped the recruitment and selection practices that exist today. The fashion and beauty industry session also focuses on the unique set of employment practices within the sector, while a further presentation delves into forms of psychometric testing and how they are being used in talent acquisition.
In 2020, social media continues to influence trends, and with technology influencing start-up brands to take position in the market, the industry has responded not only by adapting the way products are marketed and sold but also the expectations of the demand. Technology has altered selection processes, such as an increase in people using digital platforms to engage with friends, growing evidence that suggests we have a greater understanding of human behavior, and the digital tools have changed the resources made available to recruiters. In summary, over the years, the fashion and beauty industry has developed talent acquisition as a discipline that is equal to other organizational functions, aligning with business strategy and delivering results that directly impact the organization. Understanding employment practices by conducting research with employers in the fashion and beauty industry is of particular interest, as described in this presentation. Broad macro-level work often describes differing recruitment motivations for consumer-facing personnel and notes that the fashion and beauty industry is mainly based in the UK. Clothing retailing does, at present, and should be distinguished from employment process practices for other retail sectors.
Solomon Page: A Leader in Talent Acquisition Services
Solomon Page has remained dedicated to the business of talent recruitment and representation in the fashion, retail, wholesale, and beauty business since its inception in 199Solomon Page is not a subsidiary of a larger corporate concern, nor do we feed our other clients from our roster of available executives, nor do we receive commissions from, nor do we represent, advertising or media selling companies. We do not provide outplacement services for the competing corporate sector from which very possibly your successor might be drawn. Our mission is to represent as many of the finest national and international businesses within the targeted niche marketplace stated above throughout the retail, wholesale, and brand development sectors. Solomon Page has indeed carved out a highly credible niche market and business for itself. As the premier executive search boutique in the fashion, beauty, and retail world, Solomon Page is able to provide its clients with levels of service and contacts that no other firm can. Our boutique scope allows us to drill down, specialize, and provide our services in a highly tailored and refined fashion beyond the scope of our competitors. Indeed, many individuals and companies that Solomon Page chose not to represent now find themselves as feasible clients. This “reversed” stigma adds greatly to our often imitated but never duplicated position in the industry. Solomon Page’s process involves building an accurate and honest understanding of the client company, its corporate culture, market positioning, and indeed, much of the psyche of the individual hiring managers who would ultimately receive a Solomon candidate. The results of these activities greatly expedite and increase the success rate and effectiveness of our recruiting efforts. On the other side of the relationship, Solomon builds similar understandings of the executive candidates with whom we work. Solomon’s expertise is retained executive search within the C-suite, board of directors, and middle to upper management. This expertise embraces the following disciplines: finance, design, product development, production, advertising, marketing, public relations, sales, and operations within specialty and luxury retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. Many firms claim to be able to do it all, but Solomon will do the work; it will be done well and filled in a timely manner. Accountabilities and performance metrics will be fulfilled. In the fashion and beauty world, Solomon Page’s depth of candidate contact and expertise is without equal. Finally, Solomon Page has formed and developed strategic partnerships and alliances, which increase the effectiveness of our services to our clients and candidates for a full-service deliverable.
Innovative Strategies and Practices by Solomon Page
The talent acquisition process is crucial for attracting, identifying, and recruiting potential employees for an organization to fill open positions. The focus is on best practices that are a part of this process, such as sourcing capabilities, as well as utilizing online job boards, vendor listings, college campuses, unemployment agencies, and disability agencies to recruit people with disabilities. There has also been exploration of new innovative practices through a National Strategy Group.
The organization employs its own database technology to establish a network of collaborating sources and a training methodology that aligns employees of a company in a matter of minutes. Candidates are attracted, identified, and recruited based on hard and soft skills and data analytics platforms are used to take information from clients and then evaluate the characteristics of the candidate from an online dashboard. The organization is customer-focused, relationship-oriented, and woman-owned. The cornerstone of the practice has been, and will continue to be, the ongoing relationships built with clients and candidates. There is an intimate understanding of market trends and the ability to learn, adapt, and react to the number one priority: the client’s current and evolving staffing needs. Specialized, boutique services are offered, each tailored for the unique qualities of a diverse client base.
The job is to find the best talent regardless of where that talent has been developed. There is pride in providing employees with the type of atmosphere and opportunity that allows each member of the team to maximize their potential. A full-time, in-house training guru ensures continuous education and improvement. Indeed, a Contractor of the Year had only eight months of prior sales experience. There is robustness in recruiting employees who have proven success in direct sales instead of college or internships. Diversity and inclusion are top recruiting strategies. Equal opportunity hiring in recruiting is a primary function of the consulting firms that participate in this study. There is a firm commitment to hiring within the diversity and inclusion campaign.
Impact and Success Stories
While the best proof of our success is the mere fact that many of the people reading this write-up are indeed our clients, there have been exceptional placements and stories that can be quantified over the last several years.
Client Testimonials Excerpts from emails show the appreciation that the company has for our dedication and hard work. For example, “We wouldn’t have grown from a $20M company to a $200M company without you!” and “Our retail traffic is growing month over month even in this difficult economy,” are indicative of what has been able to do for this client. “Half of our community enjoys an average of 8% earnings depreciation,” also suggests how employees are prospering, and “As you know, in 2 years, we have expanded from just 5 employees to over 6Your placements are among my valued employees who, in turn, help drive the success of our company. Together they have not only played a major role in our worldwide marketing efforts but led our company to unprecedented successes, including sales in 130 countries and relationships with major mass retailers.” Also, “The people brought to us formed the backbone of our creative team. His work continues to make a daily impact on our business and our top line.”
Placements and Successes The team completed the crucial search for an International Business Director for their client, indicating that it was “a critical position that the company had been unable to fill for over a year. The candidate comes from a rival company and was ready for a career opportunity.” The new hire has “established new brand components and standards, leading to the best bounding and commercial scores in the company’s brief history.” “We’ve seen the impact of the new hire most profoundly in building a consistent brand face to our store experience across the world. Our store count has more than doubled to over 175 internationally with another 10 new stores slated to be delivered by the end of this fiscal year. We have 115 employees in total, with 45 of those now being direct store employee associates.” Furthermore, “Our traffic count and conversion rate keep growing,” and the company’s “overall delinquency levels have decreased extensively as well.”
In conclusion, there is much to learn from the pioneering practices in recruitment. This essay has detailed some of what can be distilled from a close study of recruitment work. The recruitment needs of the fashion and beauty industry are far from universal, which is why companies in the space need to draw on an ever-evolving array of solutions for attracting, retaining, and developing talent. The focus may be exclusively on the luxury goods sector, but it nevertheless leads the broader industry when it comes to talent acquisition. There are still many best practices that firms in the fashion and beauty industry can begin to enact, most of which are inspired by leading examples. Such firms need to understand that the luxury market is forever evolving and that the best ways to recruit, develop, retain, and promote talent must reflect that reality. To stay relevant in the industry, firms need to be prepared to build entire vertical pipelines of talent. The castings and fashion shows that are such integral aspects of the fashion and beauty industry will, from now on, extend to the employment of professionals in these companies. Despite rapidly evolving thinking in terms of product development and fabrication in the fashion and beauty industry, changes in hiring practices have failed to keep pace. As supply chain maps become more complex, fashion is an industry that shows no sign of slowing down, revolutionizing the way it reaches the people who are at the crux of its success. Fashion is no longer about manufactured goods, but manufactured culture. Given that fact, continued innovation in talent identification and acquisition will be crucial for the ongoing success of the industry.
