Our Experience

With experience spanning leadership, sales, HR and operational roles, we have the ability to understand the talent issues that businesses face and can deliver sustainable solutions.

Talent Advantage is a group of associates headed up by Sarah Mason.  With over fifteen years experience in the recruitment industry, she has developed a results-focused approach, where the desired outcome is always the driver.

With a track record of delivering successful talent strategies, the emphasis is on solutions that are practical, effective and have a lasting impact.

Sarah’s background includes positions of HR Director, Executive Board Member and Head of Talent at global recruitment firms.  Within these fast-paced, commercially driven environments, there is a need for efficient and cost-effective solutions that are delivered in a timely manner.

Project outcomes include:

  • Design and implementation of direct-sourced hiring models to reduce the cost per hire.  In one business this resulted in a reduction of the annual spend on agency fees from £800k to £43k.
  • Design and implementation of recruitment profiles and processes to improve quality of hire, resulting in a considerable improvement of retention of staff in their first year of service.
  • Combining effective hiring and onboarding with new starter training programmes to reduce the time taken to be productive.  In one business, this resulted in halving the Time To Bill from 5 months to 2.5 months.
  • Growing headcount sustainability and profitability. In one business, this resulted in headcount growth from 140 to 210 in one year, whilst increasing Net Fee Income per head and reducing the Time To Bill simultaneously.
  • Building award-winning in-house L&D teams to design and deliver sales, technical and leadership training.
  • Design and delivery of HR & People Strategy, including global organizational design and remuneration packages to drive profitable performance. 
  • Introduced competency-based frameworks and talent management to enable effective development and performance management of individuals and teams.
  • Designed and implemented assessment models to identify reasons for low performers and apply the relevant solution.  In one business this resulted in up to 300% increase in revenue.
  • Design and delivery of management development programmes for Principal Consultants, Team Leaders and Managers, including mentoring programmes, to help drive consistent performance across teams.
  • Design and delivery of leadership development programmes for Directors and Senior Board members, including off-site events, executive coaching and dealing with external vendors, to support delivery of the long-term vision.
  • Effective facilitation of board meetings to gain input and agreement on strategic decisions.