The challenge.

Our client, a global leader in industrial minerals, was seeking a Corporate Senior Process Engineer for the EMEA region. They had very specific requirements dictated by a number of key factors. They included technical capability, seniority, leadership style, personality traits, location and ability to travel with work.

The solution.

Chad Harrison International (CHI) was approached in 2019 to fill the first of what could be several positions over the coming years. The suggested solution was a typical retained search that would see the brief taken, search executed, shortlist presented, interviews undertaken and chosen candidate offered and placed.

In six months’ time following the success of the first placement, the client had the requirement to add a further member to the team. As per the first search, a typical retained search was undertaken, however, the number of candidates presented was significantly less given the search was conducted in the same talent pool and there had been little movement in six months. As such, this meant the total search duration was significantly longer than in the first instance.

Despite this, CHI was able to find a candidate that was more recently available and fitted the client’s requirements to a tee. This resulted in a second placement.

Fast forward twelve months and the client needed to add a further member of staff to this growing function, and given the success of the previous two searches, retained CHI to undertake this latest assignment. With the experience acquired through the previous two searches, CHI had to clearly set expectations that if the client was to stay strong by their brief, then the shortlist would be reduced further and the timeframe for delivery potentially much longer.

This required going back through the original search and reconnecting with every candidate. Then, add to the longlist to find any new candidates that were not initially available in previous searches. Instead of CHI sending over large volumes of candidates that would ultimately not meet the brief, it was agreed that we would only share those that hit every point, aware that this would impact delivery timeframes.

Each time, the search became more difficult, and the process took longer. Yet, ultimately, led to three placements being made in the same team over a two-year period.

The result.

Sometimes a retained search can look very different in terms of shortlist delivery but ultimately comes down to the required investment of time and resources into the given search. Using a search firm doesn’t guarantee that there will be more CVs and interviews, but provides the hiring team with confidence that when the perfect candidate does surface, they will be presented to them.