How is this possible, you ask? It was done with great success and placement longevity of over 5 years. Here’s what happened.
Global Brands Group (formerly LFUSA) – Was relocating its USA-based HQ from NYC to North Carolina. Out of the 200 employees only about 30 senior level leaders were being relocated and the remaining 170+/- would be rehired in North Carolina. The CEO wanted the new operations / HQ in North Carolina open for business in less than 4 months, a November 1st grand opening. For hiring in North Carolina, the company had planned to do its own recruiting with help from named search firms such as Korn Ferry or Heidrick Struggles.
The Shift to “Boutique” Expert Recruitment Strategies:
Company human resources struggled to source and recruit talent in advance of the move – they needed to hire at least 105 people in four (4) months and were turned down by the named search firms due to a time frame that was “too aggressive”.
ASCENT Select was disagreed and was hired in late June to source and recruit 45 finance positions (multiple VPs, Directors, Senior Managers, Financial Analysts, and other staff) and was told we had in 90 to 100 days. It was going to be a tough task, but I was confident we would exceed expectations.
No interviewing or hiring could be done until the CEO made the official relocation announcement planned for July 1st. The announcement was delayed and finally made in August, leaving less than 90 days to source, recruit, interview, and hire 45 finance professionals.
Understanding the urgency, Mike met with the CFO (Mark) and CEO (John), something he was accustomed to as a retained executive recruiter, to conduct a devil-in-the-details discovery conversation to understand each position, peers, and a variety of proprietary search questions plus the company’s ethos and vision.
ASCENT Select executed a multi-faceted search approach coupled with an already curated talent pipeline and was able to source and vet top-tier candidates quickly. In addition, ASCENT Select coordinated the entire interview process and worked directly with Mark (CFO) and John (CEO) to provide strategic insight on each candidate to determine which would be best to hire throughout the process (the X’s and O’s). ASCENT Select successfully helped the CFO make all needed finance hires in under 50 days. Note: Placement tenure exceeded 5 years per hire.
It get’s complicated and even more difficult. ASCENT Selects success was not overlooked and with two weeks remaining for the grand opening (Nov 1st) the CFO and CEO asked ASCENT Select to manage the three contract recruiters hired to recruit 60 operations roles who had only been able to get 17 hired. They asked ASCENT Select to step in and get the remaining 43 new hired done ASAP.
ASCENT Select immediately scheduled a call with the COO (Bob) and executed a game plan to get the remaining seats filled with top-tier talent as quickly as possible. All 43 remaining seats were filled in about four weeks.
The Results: ASCENT Select utilized its rigorous recruiting process, curated talent pipeline, innovative sourcing techniques, collaborative, highly communicative partnerships with the hiring managers, and focus on quality over quantity to successfully complete a total of 88 search assignments in under 90 days. After the grand opening, the Client asked ASCENT Select to build its IT (help desk to CIO), HR, Customer Service, and Legal departments. Three years helped the company grow to over 160 employees and more than double its global revenues.
Conclusion:
This case study underscores the transformative power of boutique/expert recruitment firms whose focus on quality not quantity, provided talent strategy and insistence on working directly with hiring managers created huge success. For the record it also took numerous 24 hour recruiting and sourcing shifts. A task that no other recruitment firm was willing to accept. For leaders like Mark, John, and Bob, who are determined to make an impact, the right talent strategy coupled with a firm that is undaunted by challenges isn’t just a choice; it’s imperative.