The challenge.
Chad Harrison International (CHI) partnered with a global packaging distributor to recruit the new role of Sales Sustainability Manager. The company has been making good progress with regards to sustainability and ESG initiatives, but they lack a dedicated leader at a corporate level to further develop the strategy and take ownership for leading group-wide sustainability opportunities and requirements. Plus, this newly formed role would be responsible for conveying the value proposition of sustainable business practices to partners and clients in a time of accelerated emphasis and heightened scrutiny.
Reporting to the Chief Sales Officer, the successful hire would need to be able to form a close working relationship, involving frequent consultation and collaboration, with the company’s CEO. The demand for analysts, strategists, and others knowledgeable about environmental, social, and governance across the corporate landscape has never been higher, making talent within this space hard to secure. What’s more, our client had short time-to-hire requirements and needed an individual in place within 10 weeks of retaining CHI for this assignment.
The solution.
CHI’s Packaging division proposed a retained search. Working in unison with the client, CHI reviewed a wide range of profiles from across the sustainability arena to establish key skills and capabilities required for the role. CHI then targeted organisations with mature and tenured sustainability functions and engaged the market by talking to Chief Sustainability Officers and business unit-level sustainability talent. Our sector specialists also spoke with commercial leaders to understand who they had enjoyed working with and felt would be capable of building strong, credible relationships quickly.
It was important to the client that they were able to see a breadth of profiles and we therefore presented candidates from a variety of backgrounds, all of which have expertise within the packaging sector. CHI delivered a strong final shortlist of four candidates within one week of commencement. All proposed candidates were deemed suitable (by the client) for interview. The multi-stage hiring process comprised three interviews, including a telephone interview, a panel interview, and an interview with the CEO. All interviews were conducted by senior management from the company’s HR and Sales functions. Two candidates successfully progressed to the final stage.
The result.
Following interviews, an offer was made to the first-choice candidate who accepted after a total of eight weeks, with a start date agreed for two months later (in line with the individual’s notice period). CHI handled the offer presentation and negotiation stage to facilitate the smooth onboarding of the desired candidate. Their experience fit all the relevant skill sets our client required as well as being an excellent cultural fit with the business. What’s more, the hired candidate was a passive job seeker, vindicating CHI’s retained search approach.
The search was a huge success which was made possible through various screenings on CHI’s side and close interactions with the client on market information and insights. This placement, amongst others, has led to a close-knit working relationship between CHI and the client; CHI has since received a number of new assignments, and our packaging division is actively seeking industry-leading talent from across the passive job seeker market to keep their business one step ahead of the competition in talent acquisition.