Case study: how FAB Group structures direct sourcing for its consultants with Kalent
How FAB Group opened its direct sourcing to multichannel outreach with Kalent: 18,000+ qualified profiles in 12 months, 30% replies, over 1,000 interviews.
Industry: multi-expertise recruitment
Headcount: around 80 employees, including some fifty consultants
Interviewee: Maxime Brun, Director of Operations and Transformation
This interview was conducted in French. The quotes below are translated.
Summary
FAB Group ran its direct sourcing on a stack of 3 licensed tools, with a single-channel candidate approach. The model produced volume, little conversion and a rising licence bill. Rolling out Kalent opened up multichannel outreach, improved the reliability of candidate data and rebalanced the tooling budget.
In 12 months, the teams processed more than 18,000 qualified profiles.
"Today we have tools, and we're limited [...] three sourcing tools on licences: LinkedIn Recruiter, Sales Navigator, and Indeed."
Outreach went through InMails in 98% of cases. The response rate observed on LinkedIn Recruiter plateaued at around 15%.
"On Recruiter, I'm at a response rate of roughly 15% [...] we're on a volume model with a very low conversion rate."
Across the group, that meant high volume for a limited return.
Beyond cost, management had identified a priority issue:
"Before price, what really matters is the reliability of the data for our consultants."
Decision criteria
Three factors drove the adoption of Kalent.
A multichannel approach
Kalent combines outreach over LinkedIn, email and WhatsApp inside a single sequence.
The quality and reliability of the profiles found
"Kalent surfaces good profiles, quickly, and getting in touch becomes easy."
Natural language search also changes the way consultants work, where competing solutions rely on filtering field by field.
"What makes Kalent's search different is that it starts from a simple sentence or a job description, and it doesn't stop at a handful of filters. The search goes further thanks to AI, adding precision on the criteria you target."
The rising cost of the existing tools
LinkedIn's pricing trajectory led FAB Group to look for innovative alternatives.
"I won't hide it, LinkedIn is an essential tool, but their pricing is becoming excessive. So we need to find alternatives."
The rollout across the teams
Around ten consultants have built Kalent into their daily direct-approach routine, to retrieve contact details and run multichannel sequences. The rollout first covered AEC and banking, then extended to IT, accounting and payroll, sales functions, industry and healthcare.
"We have about ten licences today, we have people using it on AEC, on banking, on IT, on those roles, and it works pretty well."
Results over 12 months
- More than 18,000 qualified profiles processed by the teams
- +30% response rate
- +1,000 interviews
- Cost optimisation (5x cheaper than LinkedIn Recruiter)
Conclusion
For FAB Group, what Kalent brings goes beyond one more tool. It changed how consultants source, widened the outreach channels and rebalanced the licence budget.
Data reliability, profile quality, multichannel outreach, an economic advantage over LinkedIn Recruiter and a more diversified stack: these five criteria shape how Kalent is used inside the firm.
Equipping a team of consultants for direct approach? Discover Kalent at kalent.ai.
