Pulling Together to Deliver During Challenging Times

Our client is a leading wood products company, well-known in Central Europe, distributing a wide variety of wooden products across 58 locations in 19 countries across the region. The client’s requirement was to fill the vacancy for the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in the company with a highly qualified expert who would be able to handle the complexities of the role. Despite the difficult times, the client’s proactive collaboration in every step of the search and selection process helped us achieve the desired outcome.

Recruitment processes over the last few months have changed drastically. Today, many recruiters and companies are struggling to find the right balance between handling candidates online and making final decisions using in person client meetings. In this case study, we would like to demonstrate how we managed to do both by efficiently collaborating with the client’s organizational development department.
The main goal of this executive search assignment was to identify and define clear objectives in order to find the ideal candidate during these challenging times.

Sourcing the preliminary candidate pool:

After the final briefing with the client, our first challenge was to acquire a potential applicant pool. For this purpose, we created the job ad and reached out to candidates using multiple channels to widen and double our search. Our efforts did not stop there, and our team of researchers actively reached out to potential candidates within Iventa’s existing talent database.

Screening and selection from an enormous applicant pool:

Having a “second opinion” on the final short list of candidates

Before meeting with our client, and to be certain about our final selection of candidates, we executed a PERLS potentials analysis test. This tool provides objective and reliable information on behavioural tendencies, abilities, and attitudes of the candidates. The results were then interpreted by Iventa experts, followed by a review with the tested candidates, and subsequent reporting back to the client.

After successfully tackling these challenges, we moved on to client presentations in the form of candidate reports. In the end, only five candidates were selected by our client for a formal in-person meeting. We concluded the process with the usual procedures of formal meeting, self-presentation and case studies, after which the final decision was made by the client.

Ultimately, the position was successfully filled. Both the client and the selected candidate were pleased with the results and the execution of the assignment. Through this case study, we positively emphasize on the interdepartmental cooperation among the specialists from Iventa’s HR and the client’s organizational development division. In these challenging times, such a collaboration between the client and our team brought us threefold benefits: for the applicant, the client and also for our team.