BC Business
Sponsored Content
Destinationone Consulting Inc. founder KD Khairah’s mission is as simple as it is daring: to revolutionize the nature of relationships between an employment consulting firm, employers seeking new talent and people seeking employment.
A native of India who achieved great professional success in his homeland and in the U.K., Khairah settled in B.C. in 2012. Here he found that local companies and job hunters were as dissatisfied with the typical standards of service from employment consultants as elsewhere in the world. Since its launch in 2013, Destionationone has rapidly established itself as a new model for the consulting industry, and Khairah gives some insight into what his company is doing differently and what’s next for Destinationone.
What are the shortcomings of other employment consultancies that you knew Destinationone could improve upon? I found that a lot of employers don’t trust recruitment companies to do the job, because they don’t find quality candidates—they keep throwing resumés at the employer and not understanding beyond the job description. Every company’s culture is so unique, and you have to find a fit. And then, from a candidate’s perspective—people who are looking for jobs—recruiters would just talk to them and not even know half of the time what he or she is looking for. We do in-depth analysis, talking to them and understanding what their dream job looks like. So we’re concerned with both parties: the employer and the employee. It’s not a transaction for us. We genuinely want to help people get good jobs and be happy.
What are the potential short- and long-term problems an employer may experience from working with a lesser consultancy firm? A bad hire can cost a company 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars—to train them, and then the hire leaves or the company gets rid of them. We’re a contingency service: the company doesn’t pay us until it hires somebody. So we make sure the right people are presented to them—we don’t waste their time. It can take time, because we’re talking about people, not a product. How is Destinationone diversifying to help employ the widest range of job-seekers possible? We’re in the process of “verticalizing” our company, which means we have specialists working in various divisions. For instance, DestinationoneTemp caters to the temporary employment sector, DestionationoneTech purely focuses on the technology sector, and Destinationone caters to all industries except technology and temporary staffing. These allow us to have a much more focused approach in their respective areas. Destinationone currently has offices in Vancouver and Surrey. What are its plans for the future? I’ve always believed in, “You either go big or go home.” We’re working on a national expansion plan right now. I have a vision of taking the company to 300 to 400 people in Canada alone, and we eventually plan to get into the U.S. market, too.