The client is a manufacturer of cutting-edge capital solutions. Their success now created the opportunity for a talented COO to deliver new leadership, concepts, practices and processes. This job would demand a flexible approach, including a variety of planned and unplanned international travel
The Challenge
The brief given by the client was clear cut, however the mixture of client confidentiality and sensitivity on offer made this campaign more delicate and precise to fill than others. We experienced greater limitations than usual, in terms of being able to divulge client name and specific detail to the hundreds of both applicants and headhunted candidates.
The WH Solution
Having reviewed the job brief with all parties, it was agreed we would run an eSearch campaign, very carefully worded in order to appeal to those with the specific industry sector experience we were seeking, but not too specific to give away the client’s actual identity or industry. We also conducted a targeted headhunt and confidentially approached all competitors with similar posts in place. As upper quartile candidates will normally be in demand by other companies, we increased both the pace of ours and our client’s process, with agreed interview times set so that interested candidates did not fall out of the process, due to delays in getting decision makers from another continent to interview.
The Results
Vetting several hundred applicants led us to interview the top 7 applications and headhunted candidates and we shortlisted four for our client to see. Our client fast-tracked one of the three and an offer was extended ahead of our original timescale and was accepted. The benefit was that our client had their new hire in place by the beginning of the new calendar year.