Home to some of the world’s leading advertising and digital agencies, South Africa is renowned for its creativity and, like bees to a honeypot, its creative talent has attracted keen headhunters. With influences from its diversity of cultures, creeds, humour and heritage, South Africa’s creative talents are widely sought after by global companies.
It’s no wonder that The Talent Boom, a global digital and creative recruiting firm, opened its first office in the creative hub of Cape Town in 2013. With talent scouts combing agencies and creative departments for people who really stand out, they’ve been making matches between advertising agencies and creative departments of large corporations with elite talent worldwide for the past six years.
Founder and CEO Emily Keyes began her career in the UK and Amsterdam, working for various recruitment agencies before moving to Cape Town in 2013 to open The Talent Boom. She sees extreme creative potential in South Africans that sets them apart, placing them in high demand with international corporates. “In South Africa there’s a big opportunity to do innovative and inspirational work that no one else has done. In some countries, campaigns are just translations and adaptations, whereas in South Africa there’s some real on-the-ground work being done,” says Keyes.
As an English-speaking country with remarkable, hands-on creatives working on projects from inception all the way through to activation and completion, Keyes believes this is what makes South African talent so attractive.
The Talent Boom is not a traditional recruitment agency; instead its boomersconsider themselves pure headhunters. By specifically targeting top talent for companies and departments by headhunting, networking, or through word of mouth, it has no need to advertise jobs or find jobseekers for clients. According to Keyes, “candidates are the elite who have pretty much come into the job market for their clients role only.”
Just as an example of the type of global placements The Talent Boom does in a three month period, since Jan 2019, The Talent Boom has made placements in roles ranging from CEO, strategy director and executive creative directors to project managers, copywriters and business directors in South Africa, Kenya, Amsterdam, Germany, Ghana, Tokyo, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York and Texas.
The Talent Boom represents key digital and creative talent across the creative, digital, advertising and sports world, such as Ogilvy Worldwide, JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi,AKQA and Adidas. Its HQ, affectionately known as The Boom House, is located in Cape Town with offices further afield in London, Amsterdam and more recently, Miami.
After signing its first South African client in 2013, a leading digital agency, the company has grown substantially and now boasts 20 Boomersin South Africa. In 2017, The Talent Boom opened an office in Amsterdam which employs four Boomers, while its new Miami office has two Boomers.
If the past six years are anything to go by, The Talent Boom will continue to grow from strength to strength and continue to search for talent scouts to meet the job demands of their global clients. As an already well-recognised company within the digital and creative recruitment space, The Talent Boom aims to continue to expand its office locations across EMEA in the near future.
About The Talent Boom
The Talent Boom partners with advertising agencies and creative departments of renowned global brands to identify elite talent for their job openings. As a global recruitment agency, they recruit talent at their finest when they work in this diverse and exciting market, thriving on different cultures, countries and challenges.
For more information visit www.thetalentboom.comor email hello@thetalentboom.com