Search
Director, Digital Marketing
Organization
Luxury Goods Retailer
Situation
The ExeQfind Group was engaged to conduct this search for a newly created role. The new Director, Digital Marketing would have a mandate to take customer engagement in the digital realm to a whole new level raising the bar for the candidate profile and thus creating a major challenge in the search. It required a depth of experience in developing digital strategies across a host of new and emerging media, a depth of CRM experience and a track record of developing award-winning websites and digital marketing programs. This role required a unique blend of creative, business and analytical skills and the Client indicated that they would prefer that candidates had digital marketing experience within a range of industries.
Assesment
Having conducted many searches for this Client, we knew that candidates with the depth and breadth of experience, along with the level of marketing aesthetics that the Client was looking for, are few and far between. In addition to sourcing external candidates for this role, a number of internal candidates also had to be vetted and managed by The ExeQfind Group.
Challenge
This search affected employees at all levels within the organization. The new leader of digital marketing worked with other marketing executives and staff, IT, operations, merchandising and retail.
Solution
The lead consultant on this search conducted an in-depth briefing with the Client and other key stakeholders, gaining a thorough understanding of the nature of this role. This led to the development of an ideal candidate profile document as well as an in-depth candidate briefing document which was used to market the role to prospective candidates. Given the unique characteristics and skill set required for this role, one of our lead consultants developed a very targeted search strategy. They focused on sourcing candidates that had worked within a number of sophisticated digital and CRM marketing environments, so as to bring the broad experience that the Client was looking for, as well as organizations that were known for their breakthrough creative. This approach resulted in the identification of 5 of the top digital and CRM marketing experts in this marketplace.
Candidate
The consultant provided a thorough assessment via in-depth interviews and psychometric testing of the candidates, as well as providing the Client with a relative ranking of their various strengths and weaknesses. The Client was challenged to make a final choice between two closely matched candidates and eventually selected the one that they felt had a “creative” edge over the other. The finalist candidate was thoroughly vetted through reference checks and verification of academic qualifications.
Postmortem
The successful candidate continues to drive ever greater levels of performance in the Client’s digital marketing efforts and The ExeQfind Group has continued to enjoy a mutually beneficial partnership with this Client.