We were engaged by a highly advanced sensor company making leading edge technology for the consumer market. With incredibly demanding customers our client needed to ensure that they found a ‘game changing’ leader to become their VP of Core Tech and ensure that the delivery of their innovative sensors to their clients was world class.
Knowing the sensitivity of the position and the impact it would have on the rest of the team, a highly confidential approach was required. We spent a great deal of time really understanding the challenge, company, culture and impact this person would have and the kind of person that would be able to cope with such a high-pressure position. When speaking to potential candidates, we needed to be able to relay a compelling story to gain their trust as the company name could only be revealed at interview stage.
The project took an interesting turn when the CEO spotted a candidate on our list who he had heard about previously. He decided that this was exactly the person he needed for this position. When we approached said candidate, he was working for a very well-known and well-regarded consumer electronics company and had no immediate desire to leave.
Several in depth discussions led to understanding the candidates ultimate career goal and what steps he would need to take to achieve this. It was clear that it would be difficult to follow this path in the company he was working for and that in fact he could be open to a COO position. Relaying the information back to the CEO, he took the decision to open a COO role so that this person could become his right-hand man.
The next challenge was to align on salary as the candidate was considerably over budget as he had been working at a very prestigious company. By building a close relationship with both the candidate & CEO we managed to close the gap and after a tough decision, the candidate joined. In the following months, the CEO and HR head both contacted us to say how pleased they were with the process and the candidate as they knew how exceptional this person was and how hard it was to move them. We have since completed two other VP roles for them.
