Lessons Learnt – This period was the most critical period for the current ROXEC Business.

Ikigai – You may notice that some of your responsibility areas are more motivating for reasons than the others. Those areas could be your ikigai.

During 1997 – 1999 at Nokia Mobile Phones Veli’s main responsibility was the roles of Software Project & Line Manager for the 2^nd generation of Nokia Communicator.

In addition to that Veli recruited 100+ SW Talents in a very competitive environment. He was one of the best Recruiters at Nokia globally during those years.

Also, Talent Management responsibilities of ca. 200 SW Talents gave its own ingredient to the current ROXEC Business.

Can we see ikigai – Software Consulting & Recruitment. Talent Management?

Have you already found your ikigai? No hurry, it may take decades.

David vs Goliath – We bought SW Consulting services from diversified companies. In general, smaller companies were much more productive & cost-effective than much larger companies. This is valid often nowadays too.

SW Consulting. Recruiting. Talent Management.

Lessons Learnt – Listen to your own gut feelings & your mentors’ comments about the business or the next career step you are planning. Despite a failure you can learn a lot, which can be useful for your next job.

2016 ROXEC started its operations in the Management Consulting business. The purpose was to offer to CxO level well-identified & productive solutions to improve Clients’ operational performance.

Unfortunately, we failed in this demanding business area mainly because Veli was at least on that time very bad Sales person but

1) We learnt a lot about several business areas.

2) We built our networks further.

3) The original name & logo are still in use. The purpose gave the name ROXEC – ROI excellence for executives. ROXEC red & red lines stand for the red line, i.e., the core of Client’s needs that must be understood quickly to make valuable proposals to help Clients & Candidates.

Management Consulting.

Lessons Learnt – Do what you are passionate about & you can already to some extent. It’s very risky to change to totally new Businesses & work roles.

2018 ROXEC started focusing on Recruiting in Software Business. Software Consulting was another Business Area but on a small scale. Why back to SW Recruiting?

1) During 1997 – 1999 at Nokia Veli had gained substantial experience on SW Recruiting in a very competitive environment. Despite the tough competition Veli succeeded in Recruiting 100+ SW Talents.

2) Also 2001 – 2002 at Elektrobit / Teraflops (nowadays Bittium) Veli was deeply involved in international challenging SW Recruiting “competition”.

3) Summer 2018 was the momentum to take the next step to start building ROXEC SW Recruiting Business aiming to better than average Candidate & Client Experiences in the field.

SW Consulting. Recruiting.

Lessons Learnt – Know well your Clients’ future plans, so you might be the key player in their success.

A Client was able to start from scratch its SW Business in Germany with its new potential large-size Client thanks to a well-matched ROXEC Consultant.

The Client hired several ROXEC Employee Candidates later enabling a quick ramp-up with its own customer.

SW Consulting. Recruiting.

Lessons Learnt – You can challenge even much bigger players if you can & act. David vs Goliath, sometimes David is the winner.

A Client had its Talent Pool of 600+ Developers but could not find a Qualified Candidate for its Automotive Client until ROXEC presented a ROXEC Consultant Candidate.

The Client wanted an instant assignment, which was signed in 2 days.

The Consultant enabled a start of the Client’s project otherwise Client should have postponed the project & pay a lot of overheads for the rest of the Team.

SW Consulting.

Lessons Learnt – As an Entrepreneur you must find your niche, but you must do everything before you can afford to buy external services. Focus on achieving tangible results all the time.

2019 was the 1^st full Fiscal Year for ROXEC SW Recruiting Business.

The main outcomes:

1) New Clients & a huge number of new Candidates.

2) A lot of new knowledge about the modern SW Business & SW Recruiting.

3) Several Lessons Learnt about which more later in the BLOG section.

4) Sales of 60+ kEUR was a pretty okay start in a highly competitive environment.

SW Consulting. Recruiting.

Lessons Learnt – Know well your Candidates & Clients, so you might make miracles.

A Client was able to start from scratch its SW Business in the U.S. with its very new customer thanks to a well-matched ROXEC Consultant.

ROXEC Talent Network beat again Client’s own & its other Partner’s Talent Pools.

SW Consulting.

Lessons Learnt – Be ready for an unexpected.

One of the very basic tips for Entrepreneurs: You should have a mindset of Continuous Development (Personal & Business Development) to get over the harder times.

It was tested around the globe in 2020 that was challenging due to the Covid-19.

ROXEC SW Recruiting Business went down rapidly. We barely survived. The original ROXEC Business decreased about 85 %.

Thanks to new Business Development ideas & new Clients we started to get tangible results late 2020.

SW Consulting. Recruiting. Executive Search. Talent Management.

Lessons Learnt – You can surprise positively your Clients & Candidates if you can make results quickly. Anyway, the most important is the Continuous Development. You are never full-ready!

A company had spent 4 months trying to find a Lead Developer but failed. The company had spent another 3 months to find a Senior Developer instead of the Lead Developer with a Recruitment Agency but failed again.

The CEO of the company called Veli asking help to find a Senior Developer. On the same day ROXEC presented to the CEO a Lead Developer Employee Candidate.

The company (a new ROXEC Client) & the Candidate signed an employment contract in 14 days. ROXEC surprised again a Client & Candidate!

Recruiting.

Lessons Learnt – Better to start & try than just plan & wait for the right timing.

A company (a potential ROXEC Executive Search Client) had identified a need for “Vice President” / “Head of” to lead their Sales & Business Development but could not figure out how to start.

After a short discussion with the potential Client, it was concluded that let’s start & try the search with the current understanding of the role, to which their contact person promised to send a more accurate Job Description.

Veli identified on the same day a few very good Candidates among which the Candidate that was hired for the position.

The potential Client sent the Job Description in a few bullet points, which did not actually add any value to the previous discussion.

6 days after the first call ROXEC presented “the winning Candidate” who was willing to sign a contract.

Unfortunately, the Client was not aware of modern Talent Acquisition practices, so the Client’s process took an additional 49 days of which most were unnecessary.

Executive Search.

Lessons Learnt – Clients don’t always know their accurate need, so it’s your role to bring the needed expertise to figure out the actual need.

If Client’s Requirement Spec (“Req Spec”) is unclear, try to dig all possible pieces & use all your Skills. At the end you might notice you know the Req Spec even better than the Client.

In this case a Client itself was looking for a Developer & with a couple of Partners for 4 months, but they could not find a Qualified Developer.

ROXEC discussed with the Client’s about the Req Spec, but the requirements were very unclear even for the Client, so it was challenging to start finding such a Talent.

ROXEC made 2 acceptable proposals to solve the case, but the Client still wanted to continue the search even though the Client was in a hurry.

Okay, you do what needs to be done, i.e., more work of which outcome 5 days later maybe “a better matching” Candidate whilst the Req Spec was still very open.

The Client was very pleased with the Candidate. The Client was ready to sign a contract right away. Luckily the Candidate accepted the Client’s offer by signing the contract 6 days later.

SW Consulting.

Lessons Learnt – Even during a pandemic some of the companies can grow but the most vital is to survive.

This simple formula could help you too for a quick growth = think + try + improve.

In fact, the formula is the very old one PCA or PDCA (Plan – Do – Check – Act) way of thinking, so nothing new you may think?

April 2021: The first half of 2021 FY (Fiscal Year) was progressing very well, so the Sales estimation was increased to 200+ kEUR (10+ times compared to 2020 FY)

SW Consulting. Recruiting. Executive Search. Talent Management.

Lessons Learnt – One small company can be better than bigger companies together.

Sometimes you might be lucky, but before the luck you most probably have done a lot of work for a long time. Also, if you are very lucky, you can show that a small Partner can be more competent & flexible than several bigger Partners together.

ROXEC had been in contact with a potential Client for about 2 years, but no cooperation was born because the Client indicated they already had several Partners & their own direct networks were large enough to fulfil their Talent needs.

One day Veli just for a reason contacted the Client that surprisingly told Veli they urgently need a Specialist that they could not yet have found neither from their own nor their Partners’ networks.

During the call Veli identified the potential Client’s need & potential Candidates.

Veli presented 1 of the Candidates on the same day.

The Client was convinced about the Candidate & the Candidate about the Client after the next day’s interview.

But the Client still wanted to look more at its other sources but could not find a better match.

A Consulting contract with the ROXEC Consultant Candidate was signed in 7 days after the first ROXEC – the Client contact.  

This case again shows that a small company can be more productive than bigger companies. Let’s also try smaller players, so they may bring something new on the table.

SW Consulting.

Lessons Learnt – Be ready to serve your Clients even out-of-office times if you really want to make results.

A Client called one Friday at 4:30 p.m. One of their Employees had laid off himself, so the Client was in a hurry to find a replacement Developer.

Our call took a few minutes, during which Veli told the Client that 1 pretty good Candidate might match with the job.

A discussion with the Candidate on Saturday. He indicated that he was tentatively interested in the job.

ROXEC presented the Candidate to the Client immediately.

Fortunately, both were interested in each other, so a contract was signed 10 days after the Client’s first call.

The signing could have been done in 5 days, but the Candidate had several other options to choose from.

SW Consulting.

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