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The only recruitment partner Clever Advertising works with in Portugal
Two and a half years, six role types, and three different ways of employing the same people, all through one point of contact.
3Of our four engagement models, used by one client
76Screening interviews we ran
2Steps in their entire hiring processTL;DR
- Who. Clever Advertising, a customer acquisition company for the iGaming industry, headquartered in Porto with a second office in Malta. It buys media, runs SEO, PPC and influencer campaigns for operators including Bet365, Betway, Stake, 888 and Codere, and reports over 22 billion ad impressions in a year.
- What they needed. A recruitment partner in Portugal they could actually rely on. They had been working with a Brazilian consultancy and it was not going well locally. The immediate need was project managers to run their internal product teams.
- Why it was hard. Their needs arrive without warning and have to be filled fast. And over time what they wanted was not just people, but different ways of employing them: some on their payroll, some on ours, some they found themselves but did not want to hire directly.
- What we did. One named point of contact for the whole company. Candidates screened and technically assessed by us before anyone at Clever spends time. And three different commercial models, added as their strategy changed, instead of asking them to fit ours.
- What happened. Two and a half years, hires across project management, RPA, data engineering, identity access management and support, and no other agency in Portugal.
About Clever Advertising
Clever Advertising is a customer acquisition company for the iGaming industry. It buys media and runs SEO, PPC and influencer campaigns across five continents for operators including Bet365, Betway, Stake, 888 and Codere, and it reports more than 22 billion impressions, 1.5 million registrations and 727,000 first-time depositing customers in a year. It is headquartered in Porto and opened a second office in Malta.
Behind the media business there is a product organisation: internal platforms, sports news applications built with AI, and casual games. It is structured as several teams working on different projects at the same time, which is why project management capacity, rather than headcount in any one discipline, was the first thing they needed.
They came to us through a project manager we had placed at another client, who moved to Clever and made the introduction. That led to an online meeting, then an in-person one at their Porto office, where three of us went to meet them. We have been their recruitment partner in Portugal ever since.
The brief
Be the recruitment partner in Portugal. Cover whatever comes up, from project managers and product owners to RPA developers, data engineers, Golang developers, identity access management analysts and IT support, mostly hybrid out of Porto. Fill urgent needs quickly enough that the business does not have to postpone work while it waits.
The 4 problems we had to solve
Problem #1: “We do not have a recruitment partner in Portugal we can rely on.”
Clever was working with a consultancy from Brazil, where most of their team originally comes from. It was not working well for hiring in Portugal, which is a different market with different salary expectations, notice periods and employment law. What they wanted was not more CVs, it was one partner locally who would still be there in a year.
What we did
We gave them a single named point of contact and kept it that way. Fernando Guedes, their decision maker, and his team leads all come directly to one person here. There is no account handover, no ticket queue, and no explaining the company twice. Over two and a half years that has become the whole basis of the relationship: they do not work with any other agency in Portugal.
Problem #2: “When we need someone, we needed them last week.”
Requests at Clever appear from one day to the next. A team lead has a gap, the project cannot wait, and the answer has to arrive in days. A process that starts from zero on every request would have failed them repeatedly.
What we did
We check our own database before we source. Because we have been recruiting continuously in Porto and across Portugal, there is usually somebody already screened who fits, and they can be presented immediately. When there is not, we source and come back fast. Their own process is two steps: our screening interview, then a conversation with Fernando. That is possible only because the first step is a real technical assessment rather than a CV pass.
Problem #3: “We want the people, but not all of them on our payroll.”
Partway through, Clever changed strategy. They wanted to keep growing their project teams without growing their fixed cost base, so a permanent hire stopped being the right answer for every role. Most agencies would have kept selling permanent placements anyway.
What we did
We moved to staffing. People we recruit sit on our payroll and are allocated to Clever projects, billed monthly, and released when the project ends. Roughly half the people we have placed there are now on this model. One delivery manager went in this way and worked for a year before Clever chose to bring him onto their own payroll, which is exactly how the model is supposed to work.
Problem #4: “We found these people ourselves, and we still do not want them on our payroll.”
Then a third situation appeared. Clever had identified three people they wanted, sourced entirely by themselves, and still did not want them as direct employees. That is not a recruitment problem at all, and there was no reason for a recruitment agency to be able to solve it.
What we did
We employed them. Employer of record: the people go onto our payroll, we handle the contracts, the payroll, the holidays, the sick leave and the paperwork, and Clever manages them day to day. Because there was no sourcing or screening involved we charge a lower fee for it. Clever is now the one client using three of our four engagement models, which is the clearest measure of the relationship we have.
How we actually ran it
- One point of contact, and everyone uses it. Fernando and his team leads come directly to the same person here with what they need. No intake form, no round trip.
- A role intake document per search. What the person will work on, who they report to, the seniority, the salary band, the office pattern, and the interview steps with a named owner for each. Their project manager brief, for example, was €40 to €45k, hybrid in Porto, reporting straight to Fernando.
- Our own database first, sourcing second. Somebody already screened is the fastest possible answer to an urgent need, and it is the reason we can move in days rather than weeks.
- Our screening interview, cultural and technical. Every candidate. Questions built for the specific role, whether that is RPA, Golang or identity access management. Where useful we bring in someone from our team to run the technical part.
- Then Clever, and usually that is it. A conversation with the team, and Fernando gives the final yes. Two steps in total, two to three interviews, decided quickly.
- We keep managing the people we employ. For everyone on staffing or employer of record, contracts, payroll, holidays, sick leave and performance reviews stay with us. Clever manages the work, not the employment.
Everything behind the placements
Most agencies show you placements. This is the work underneath them, split by role.
The three models, in the order they arrived: permanent placement, where the person joins Clever and we are paid a fee; staffing, where the person stays on our payroll and is allocated to a Clever project; and employer of record, where Clever finds the person themselves and we employ them.
What Clever Advertising ended up with
One recruitment partner in Portugal, and no other agency, for two and a half years.
Hires across project management, RPA, data engineering, identity access management, Golang and IT support.
A two-step hiring process, because the technical screening happens before they see anyone.
Three ways of employing the same quality of person, so a change in strategy did not mean a change in supplier.
Around half their placements off their own payroll, with the fixed cost that implies removed.
Contracts, payroll, holidays, sick leave and performance reviews handled by us for everyone we employ.
