Tim Tolan, the Founder and Managing PartnerFounded in 2005 by Healthcare IT industry veteran Tim Tolan, TTG is a full-service executive search firm focused on healthcare services, healthcare tech, and behavioral health sectors. “We understand the nuances of healthcare reimbursement, point of care delivery, HIPAA regulations, EHR functionality, revenue cycle management, tech-enabled digital health and advances in patient information management. This allows us to effectively locate the right talent to fill crucial roles at organizations that operate within those market segments,” says Tim, the Founder and Managing Partner of TTG.
As a full-service partner, TTG is an invaluable resource to any organization that invests in the partnership rather than a transaction with the vendor. TTG is much more than just a resume clearinghouse. It collaborates with clients on their hiring plans and staffing strategies to identify key players that can fill the open roles. With a huge network of candidates in healthcare and social enterprise, TTG helps clients recruit the right talent. A clear understanding of clients’ reasons for hiring and their goals better positions TTG in its procurement screening and vetting efforts.
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We never aim to provide clients with huge volumes of resumes, but strive to ensure that the quality of a candidate is notably better than that of a random CV submission recruitment strategy
Mining the Insights out of Data
Over the years, Tim has trained recruiting teams with a particular mantra that acted as his guiding principle - “Listen your way to a placement.” Even though the recruitment industry is replete with all kinds of technological processes, platforms, and candidate presentation software, all of those things are inconsequential if we miss the foundational principle of listening. Recruiters are often accused of trying to “fit a square peg in a round hole.” Hiring managers get frustrated with the recruiter who doesn’t seem to be listening to them. It almost feels like the recruiter is deciding the best fit for an organization instead of the hiring manager. To overcome these, TTG offers a client portal that allows clients to see real-time data on active and pending candidates in the queue. This resource allows hiring managers to have up-to-date intel on where things stand in the search process. It also allows for efficiency in communication and time management.
In one instance, TTG helped a client who grew frustrated with a well-known executive search firm that they were working with. The recruiter of the other firm made a comment that “nobody will take the job at the salary being offered.” The client was surprised by the posture and belligerent position of that recruiter. The client’s accusation was that the recruiting firm kept suggesting a salary hike to grow the percentage-based fee they would charge for their services. The client came to TTG asking if they could be successful within the specific salary range. “We were able to inform them, using compensation analyst data, on where their offer should be. The outcome was that the salary they were offering was well in line with market norms. 42 days later, we were able to place their C-Suite executive,” mentions Tim. The utilization of data as a means of consultation is what powers the partnership between a client and a recruitment firm.
With companies having a plethora of information available at their fingertips, TTG’s clients appreciate its ability to help make sense of all the available information. Rather than inundating the client with stats and figures and summaries and overviews, the company correlates the information in an easy-to-read format to make their jobs easier.
Always Staying a Notch Above the Rest
What differentiates TTG from other players in the market is its performance-based fee agreement. Search agreements that are common in the recruiting industry are structured in such a way that it becomes a progressive bill arrangement as the creates. The company has a shared risk model with clients in an agreement language. Other areas of differentiation for the firm include how they conduct the search. TTG’s recruiters take time to build a slate of candidates that will be used as points of reference in calibrating the ideal candidate prospect.
In this brief calibration, TTG’s recruiters identify resumes that are indicative or emblematic of the job description as presented by its clients. The calibration process shortens the curve to the slate of finalists and allows TTG to separate the wheat from the chaff. Further, accountability during the search process is also important. The company understands that its direct point of contact is often a hiring manager who has to give an account for the investment made in the search and the reason for using a third-party firm. Being sensitive to that, TTG doesn’t leave its client without answers for leadership meetings or accountability meetings concerning the hiring project. They have an online client portal that gives up-to-date information on where searches stand and the current status of particular candidates. This has been complemented by many of its clients as a useful resource that has eliminated the need for conference calls or Zoom calls to discuss search progress, thereby saving time during the workday.
A full-service partner is an invaluable resource to any organization that invests in the partnership rather than in a transaction with the vendor
Too many recruiting firms operate on a transactional format and define success as simply placing an open request. Though placing an employee is the ultimate goal, repeat business relies on the way the search was conducted and how the work is guaranteed once it’s completed. Too many clients have expressed frustration with search firms in the past and said, “though it ended in a placement, I’ll never work with him again.” That reality exists when a recruiter perceives the search as nothing more than a transaction. As opposed to this, TTG always focuses on the quality of the candidates and the value they can add.
Such a focus on quality has enabled TTG to touch new heights of success. The company is made up of three distinct divisions today: permanent placement executive search, permanent placement of functional roles, and contract services of certain clinical positions. With the three legs, there is virtually no search that TTG can’t conduct for clients at any level in the hiring plan. Having such a broad focus really positions the company to be a one-stop solution for many clients, including those outside the healthcare industry.
TTG is also focusing on building partnerships with private equity firms. In fact, the company has become the go-to resource for private equity firms that are making a significant investment in health care organizations. The clients have come to appreciate TTG’s understanding of the market and its ability to collaborate and work with their portfolio of company executive teams. “We never aim to provide clients with huge volumes of resumes, but strive to ensure that the quality of a candidate is notably better than that of a random CV submission recruitment strategy,” concludes Tim
