Founded in 1999, S&L Integrated provides Integrated Audio, Video, Lighting, and Control Systems for Business, Government, Education, Healthcare, Worship, and Live Production. The team is dedicated to providing exceptional audiovisual integration solutions that meet their clients unique needs and budget. S&L is dedicated to building long-lasting relationships with their clients with the goal of understanding their needs in order to provide solutions that meet their needs now and long into the future.
At the time, S&L Integrated did not have a full-time HR staff member onboard. When it came to hiring new team members that were needed for the company’s growth it was no one person’s responsibility to post jobs or do the recruiting. They had no one to screen candidates or take the time to assess cultural fit and it was becoming a significant challenge.
“We were struggling to fill our open roles and had been for several years,” says Chief Operating Officer Reid Wylie. Filling technical roles was hindering S&L’s ability to grow and provide the excellent service that they promise to their clients. Wylie and the team had initially tried to work with headhunters but did not have the best experience, “there were many different people just throwing resumes at us with little time taken to get to know our individual business and culture,” and while they made hires, they were not the best fit culturally, leading the team to seek out TalenTrust.
The S&L team was attracted to TalenTrust because of how different their model and process was from the headhunters they were accustomed to working with. “TalenTrust takes the time to get to know your industry and your culture before showing you any candidates. They care as much about the fit of someone as they do the fitness of someone to do the job,” says Wylie and that was the deciding factor in choosing to work with TalenTrust.
Throughout his many conversations with Erin Dougan, Roger Cunningham and others on the team he, “never felt like it was a sales pitch, but rather a partnership.”
At the start of the partnership, TalenTrust took the time to really get to know the niche industry that S&L works within. “One of the things that has impressed me the most is the time and effort our team at TalenTrust put into understanding and learning our industry and what is important to us,” says Wylie.
TalenTrust made sure to pay special attention to the specific skills needed to be successful on the S&L team and worked to become well versed in the AV integration language and vernacular to more effectively screen candidates. “[The team] does a good job of weeding out the candidates we don’t want to see,” says Wylie. Even though sometimes the resumes might seem aligned, the TalenTrust team knows after a phone call or two if the candidate is a good fit for the team and, “they have presented us with quality candidates every time,” says Wylie.
Throughout their partnership, TalenTrust and S&L Integrated have been able to add members to the S&L team that have the skills necessary to do their jobs and are fantastic cultural fits. Because of TalenTrust’s success, the team has deployed more searches than originally planned to continue to grow the S&L team. Wylie and team have appreciated the partnership and consistency from TalenTrust, “the fact that I have gotten to know my TalenTrust team and have worked with the same people for over a year is really good for me and that is not the same with others we have worked with.”