Nia Architects Case Study - STR Group - Global Talent Provider

Nia Architects Case Study

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ABOUT NIA ARCHITECTS

Nia partners with community developers, leaders, groups, and members to create purpose-driven design solutions. Nia’s team has created various award-winning multiple family, education, healthcare, community, and mixed-use projects over the past 20 years.

Nia is also a black-owned and registered MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) architecture firm comprised of a diverse range of architects and designers. The strength, innovation, and creativity of their firm are rooted in their team’s diversity.

OVERVIEW

Nia needed a talent provider that specialised in architecture and interior design to help source talent willing to relocate and work full-time in the office. Their primary goals were to improve quality candidate availability, increase recruitment efficiency and reduce costs.

UNDERSTANDING THEIR NEEDS

The firm was struggling to engage talent through direct sources, such as direct applications and networking, due to high demand and a candidate-driven market coming out of the pandemic. They were competing with other firms who worked on similar projects, but other firms had larger resources and budgets to work with.

Their salary bandings for the roles were tighter and under the average, compared to mid-size/large organisations within Chicago. This was making it difficult to attract professionals to Nia. Three offers were made to talented professionals, but they accepted offers at larger firms. Nia also struggled as their working situation was full-time in the office, rather than a 3/2 hybrid, which most firms were operating at the time.

IDENTIFYING THE CHALLENGES

It became apparent that lack of hiring management meant that Nia overlooked their internal recruitment processes, failed to respond in a timely fashion and in some cases couldn’t compete with the larger organisations in Chicago.

The main challenges in the process were:

Competition

Losing good candidates to larger competitors

Benchmarking

Salary bandings were extremely tight within Chicago

Flexible working

The working situation was full-time in the office, rather than 3/2 hybrid

Supply chain

Obtaining feedback within a timely manner and managing the candidate experience

NIA'S AIM

Nia’s aim was to engage with a single supplier that would provide high-calibre talent and streamline the recruitment process to stay one step ahead of the competition. Their objectives were to:

Develop and push their Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Improve their hiring processes

Attract high-quality candidates interested in social community projects

Improve candidate and hiring manager experience

It also became clear that as they needed their employees to work in the office 5 days a week and didn’t offer 3/2 flexible home working, they struggled to engage candidates in Chicago. Nia wanted a solution that would ensure consistent engagement regardless of volume, and a solution that could be scalable as their business grows.

OUR BESPOKE STAFFING SOLUTION

STR Group proposed that Nia broaden their search to look for professionals that were interested in relocating from another state to Illinois, as Illinois was comparable with New York and California in their compensation values. This provided Nia with a wider range of talent to meet their needs, allowing them to find the right professional and break the different hiring factor barriers in the relevant market.

Some areas of the US have more specific project types in certain areas, with California having more healthcare projects compared to New York for example, which means it might be easier for firms to offer relocation for professionals from this state to fulfil the vacancy.

Despite the relocation logistics, our candidate was still able to take up the role within 6 weeks of being offered.

DELIVERING ADDITIONAL VALUE

In addition to the soft cost-savings and benefits already outlined, we also delivered: