Scrabble’s Tailored C-Suite Recruitment: Aligning Talent, Culture, and Innovation to Drive Organizational Success

An interview with Mr. Naveen Tiwari, co-founder of Scrabble – A professional recruitment consultancy firm that assists brands in placing ideal candidates at executive and leadership positions.

In an exclusive interview with Mr. Naveen Tiwari, co-founder of Scrabble, a leading professional recruitment consultancy, we delve into the nuances of their tailored C-suite recruitment approach.

Scrabble specializes in placing top-tier executives who align with a company’s culture, vision, and innovation strategies, driving organizational success.

With a keen focus on executive and leadership roles, Mr. Tiwari shares insights on how Scrabble’s methods create lasting, impactful leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.

What specific qualities do you prioritize when matching candidates for C-suite roles, and how do you ensure these align with your clients’ organizational culture?

Naveen Tiwari: Hiring for C-Suite roles is always a significant responsibility and I see our roles no less than the perfect matchmaker, while scouting for C-Suite level talent.

You see in marriage, when one takes up the responsibility to look for the right person for another, it’s certainly a huge responsibility. But in addition, one needs to look for the perfect fit – across two broader categories: hard and soft factors.

In a marriage, hard factors could be caste, religion, educational background, and other set of socio-economic factors. Certain people are agnostic towards it, others not so. Similarly, in C-Suite hiring, this could be the remuneration, geographical location, etc.

However, the perfect match isn’t only limited to these hard factors; it merely marks the beginning of a conversation.

Ideal matches, as we all may testify from personal experience, happen when there is an alignment on the softer, intangible aspects such as the value system, the dreams and aspirations for life, what truly makes one happy or sad.

Thus, while looking for C-Suite talent, we try to discern their aspirations and motivations in life, and at this juncture of their career. What kind of work environment to they find flourishing and fulfilling and what have been challenging for them in the past.

Do they work well in a fast-paced environment or do they derive more meaning and value from building something from scratch? Is security a priority for them at this juncture of their life?

Similarly, we try and gain a deeper and accurate understanding of the intentions and desires of the companies and clients that we are representing.

We especially take into consideration the kind of a culture the company is wishing to drive or the impact they wish to create by hiring for leadership positions in the organisation.

A perfect match between the two, no matter how elusive or challenging it may sound, is what we strive to achieve while hiring for C-Suite level positions. 

How do you leverage your strong candidate network to identify and engage with top executives who may not be actively seeking new opportunities?

Naveen Tiwari: More often than not, the ideal candidates end up being the ones who are not actively seeking for the job role. Thus, as an organisation, we have been implementing strategies and a different working style that ensures we are always networking and connecting with talented individuals in meaningful ways.

To begin with, each one of us follow a “candidate-meeting” targets that makes it mandatory for in-house team to meet the candidates in-person or through a video call. Furthermore, we have started following the principles of a “community”.

That means, whether we are actively hiring for a particular role or not, the team continues their networking and relationship building meetings with top talent in a particular field or domain.

This allows them to continue to nurture the community and mine opportunities that otherwise may not happen via traditional channels.

In addition, we conduct events, mixers, campus hiring programes. In fact, we try to go directly at the source and conduct events at the campuses churning out leaders in that domain, say IITs for the IT and tech roles or TISS, XLRI etc for future HR leaders.

This sort of community building not only keeps organically growing our network but also helps improve the “reference” quotient as well.

What advanced technologies or data analytics tools do you find most effective in assessing candidate fit for high-level positions, and how do they enhance the overall hiring process?

Naveen Tiwari: We do deploy the state-of-the-art advanced tools and data analytics, leveraging the latest advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence in sourcing for the right talent.

While hiring for C-Suite roles, may utilise SHL or Hogan Assessments and companies may require some specific skill-based or personality assessments.

However, what we find most effective is connecting at a one-on-one level and understanding the drives, motives, intentions and capabilities of the candidates and looking for the perfect fit.

Can you share examples of customized recruitment strategies you’ve implemented for clients in different industries, and how these strategies contributed to their organizational success?

Naveen Tiwari: In our experience, we have found that younger organisations like an early-stage start-up etc would significantly need customisation in the recruitment strategies than the well-established MNCs or large-sized organisations.

And I personally look forward to such opportunities, as they offer a blend of creativity and strong understanding of the world of business.

On this, i actually have a delightful anecdote to share. We recently worked with a fast-growing start-up who needed a CHRO with a strong business focus, in addition to a strong background in tech or data science.

This was vital to navigate the demands of several stakeholders, drive collaborations across the board, and drive the next stage of growth for the start-up. And somehow, candidates from conventional background in the CHRO space were found to be unfit for the job at hand.

We, on the other hand, recommended individuals with a business-oriented mindset who were ready to pivot into HR functions—professionals who, while not traditional HR recruiters, could bridge the gap between business strategy and people management.

By bringing in business-aligned leaders, the start-up successfully created policies that not only aligned with their rapid growth but also supported a culture of agility and innovation.

Today, more companies recognize the potential in cross-functional flexibility, where leaders can shift roles across departments. We see talent fungibility as a strategic advantage and consistently emphasize customization as an effective approach for organizations truly looking to think outside the box.

How do you assess and adapt your recruitment strategies to meet the evolving needs of clients in rapidly changing industries?

Naveen Tiwari: To meet clients’ evolving needs, we essentially approach each recruitment strategy as though we’re part of the client’s business. For that matter, it is mission-critical for us to understand the business deeply, not sticking just to a basic brief or description.

Furthermore, instead of only relying on broad candidate databases or typical networking, we dive into the unique landscape of each client’s industry and role needs.

When engaging with candidates, we present the role from a perspective that’s aligned with the company’s culture, strategy, and immediate objectives. This depth of understanding allows us to build a nuanced candidate profile that resonates with both the client and candidate, ensuring a stronger alignment.

Adapting recruitment strategies in this way moves beyond traditional methods and allows us to present candidates who are both technically adept and culturally compatible—a critical advantage in industries marked by rapid change.

In your experience, what industry trends are shaping C-suite hiring, and how can organizations capitalize on these trends to attract the best talent?

Naveen Tiwari: While there are several trends shaping the recruitment space today, such as the advent of AI, and advanced analytics to reveal historic patterns and preempt the future trajectories, one trend that I’ve seen work like magic for the organisations the old-school power of referrals.

Each person working within an organization, typically serves as its brand ambassador. Traditionally, the onus has been on HR or hiring managers, but today, each employee is part of a valuable network or community of other talented individuals with similar interests, value systems, preferences etc. Thus, their influence on broader networks would surpass the reach of standard recruitment channels.

In fact, fast growing companies of today need to embrace this and actively encourage their teams to go out, build their network and community and refer candidates to create a powerful talent pipeline.

Hence, we always recommend our partner firms to incentivize employees with meaningful bonuses or advancement opportunities for bringing in high-caliber talent successfully.

Mr. Naveen Tiwari’s insights underscore the critical importance of aligning talent with a company’s culture and strategic goals.

Scrabble’s tailored approach to C-suite recruitment not only identifies the right leadership but also fosters innovation and long-term success.

As businesses continue to navigate complex challenges, the value of having the right leadership in place has never been more evident, and Scrabble stands at the forefront of this transformative process.

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