Corporate Group Inc. (CGI)

Corporate Group Inc. (CGI) is a shared services organization for the portfolio companies owned by Monarch Capital Partners. CGI provides corporate IT, Accounting, HR, Talent Management and marketing services for Uihlein Electric, Kenny Electric, and Strata Innovative Solutions.

Background

As Corporate Talent Manager, Sandy Harkness manages the recruiting function across these organizations. His hiring scope ranges from Apprentice and Journeyman Electricians to Automation Programmers, Project Engineers and Executive Leadership.

Speed and candidate quality are critical, as unfilled roles directly limit the companies’ ability to staff projects and drive revenue.

Challenge

Hiring Challenges Across Skilled Trade Roles

Before using Premium Campaigns, Sandy and his teams struggled with low applicant flow across specialized skilled roles. With limited inbound candidates, he was often forced to rely heavily on manual outreach. This consumed valuable time and often yielded fewer applicants who met the technical requirements of electrical and automation work.

With labor directly tied to revenue generation in a service-based business, slow hiring can quickly create organizational risk. Sandy needed a more reliable, higher-volume pipeline of qualified applicants to meet the needs of the businesses he supports.

Solution

Adopting Premium Campaigns for Greater Reach and Visibility

Once introduced to Premium Campaigns, Sandy immediately saw the impact of increased visibility and targeting.

While Sponsored Jobs had been used by his predecessors, Sandy shifted CGI’s approach exclusively to Premium Campaigns, which has significantly increased application numbers.

Sandy noted that Indeed quickly became his strongest talent pipeline.

"Our ATS tracks the source of our inbound candidate pools. Looking at this data, it’s clear that Indeed is bringing us the majority of our applicants."

Sandy Harkness, Corporate Talent Manager
Corporate Group Inc. (CGI)

A Stronger Pipeline of Qualified Candidates

Premium Campaigns delivered a meaningful increase in quality applicants for the roles Sandy recruits for. With more applicants, Sandy has been able to evaluate multiple strong candidates for each opening rather than settle for less effective hires.

For specialized trade roles such as Electricians and Automation Technicians, having consistent applicant volume has been essential for him and the Managers he supports.

Greater Efficiency Through Reduced Manual Sourcing

Premium Campaigns had a direct impact on Sandy’s efficiency as the only in-house Recruiter supporting three operating companies. By receiving more inbound applicants, he was able to significantly reduce manual sourcing.

“Premium Campaigns have saved me time and energy. With more quality candidates applying directly, I can redirect my time to our Talent initiatives outside of recruitment.”

Automation features, including recommended candidates and quick-send messaging, also saved Sandy time and reduced repetitive work.

Budget Flexibility That Matches Hiring Demand

Premium Campaigns offered the financial flexibility Sandy needed but was unable to achieve with job slot contracts on other platforms.

“I really like the flexibility. If we fill a role, I can pull back immediately. If we need more visibility, I can extend the campaign. My leadership appreciates knowing exactly what we are spending and why.”

This ability to adjust spend based on hiring urgency, seasonality, and project volume has created better alignment between recruitment activity and business needs.

Most Significant Impact on Electrician Hiring

Premium Campaigns have been especially effective for Electrician roles, one of the most critical hiring needs for all three operating companies. These roles require specialized credentials and are essential to revenue generation, making consistent applicant flow a top priority for Sandy’s teams.

Clear Business Impact and Leadership Visibility

Sandy emphasizes that Premium Campaigns provide clear visibility into spend and impact, which is crucial when communicating with business leaders.

“Premium Campaigns give me visibility into exactly what we spent, why we spent it, and the effect it had. That is incredibly important when showing the business the value of Talent Acquisition and its associated costs.”

Results

Premium Campaigns helped Corporate Group:

Increase qualified candidate volume across specialized trade roles

• Improve recruiting efficiency by reducing manual outreach
• Create more predictable and visible applicant pipelines
• Provide leadership with clearer insight into spend and performance
• Accelerate hiring for critical Electrician and Technician roles

Sandy summarized his experience simply:

“Indeed is our number one supplier of talent. Switching to Premium has made a clear difference in our ability to attract the people we need.”