Search
Managing Director
Organization
Marketing Services Company
Situation
Our US-based client in the Marketing Services sector had recently won two multi-million dollar contracts in Canada and was under significant pressure from their new clients to establish a warehouse and logistics and account teams to service the business. As they needed to find a Managing Director for the business quickly to facilitate the other hires, they asked their clients who they should use as an executive search firm. As both of their clients were also clients of our Toronto-based partner – Sylvia MacArthur, both clients recommended they use our services. Now the pressure was on us to deliver top notch candidates very quickly for this key role. This was not just a matter of satisfying the needs of our new client, but was also critical to our two other clients as it directly impacted on their businesses.
Assesment
While the client company was part of a global communications conglomerate they were separately branded and had no presence in the Canadian market. This represented a start-up with a unique situation of opening their doors with two major clients already signed and others in the pipeline.
Challenge
The candidate was required to have a broad scope of management, client service, marketing services, financial management and logistics experience. It was also important that the candidate have a deep understanding of the consumer products industry. Aside from the tight timelines for the search, the biggest challenge in the industry is that the bulk of competitor firms are owner operated, resulting in a small pool of quality senior level talent available for hire.
Solution
As Sylvia and the senior consultants at The ExeQfind Group are very well networked within the consumer products industry and their suppliers, we worked as a team to identify a slate of prospective candidates. We split up the call list so as to bring candidates forward quickly. We had a distinct advantage as we had deep knowledge of both of the companies that our client would be servicing and could counsel them on ideal fit. By working as a team we were able to facilitate a hire that resulted in the candidate starting within 6 weeks of the mandate being awarded to The ExeQfind Group.
Candidate
The client interviewed five candidates. While each met their specifications, one candidate was a clear standout. The successful candidate had a solid education and had worked for many years at a top tier consumer products company, initially in marketing and subsequently in operations. She had subsequently moved into a similar company where she was running the business. She was a strategic thinker, had excellent management experience and strong operations skills. Furthermore, she had the smarts, dynamics and personal style that would mesh well both with our client and their customers.
Postmortem
The candidate was successful in getting the business up and running in record time. The warehouse was established, the team was hired and the clients were being effectively serviced. The business grew very quickly under her direction, with new clients being added – so much so that a second warehouse was added within the first year.
Footnote
The ExeQfind Group was subsequently hired by the client to recruit another Managing Director as they continued their North American expansion.