Project reference · Engineering & industry · Executive search
Three hires that turned an empty office into a European plant.
A North American maker of safety-critical parts for heavy trucks and trailers had set up a subsidiary in Germany. It had an address, a register entry and no one to run it. Over three years we found the people who built it: first a leader who could sell, then a European sales head, then the manager who started up assembly.
3 senior hires, one subsidiary
2013 to 2016
14 days to the first profiles
Speed
About 60 supplier companies mapped
Research
7 hours to the decision-maker
Across the Atlantic
How the subsidiary grew
Each search matched the stage the business had reached
The first hire had to sell before there was anything to manage. The second had to know the European market and its buyers. The third had to start up a production line.
The brief
What the client actually needed
The brief for the first search said “managing director”. The real job was more specific. The new subsidiary had no staff, so its first leader would be its key account manager for large vehicle builders, its administrator and its recruiter, and would later have to start local production. The client did not want a banker or a corporate chief executive used to delegating. It wanted someone who could sell a technical product and grow into running a company.
We said so early. After two weeks of market mapping, our advice was to look at senior key account managers, regional sales directors and branch heads at mid-sized suppliers, for whom the role was the next logical step, rather than try to hire a chief executive away from a larger group.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
A small candidate pool with fences around it
The people who understand this product mostly work for its customers or its competitors. The client’s most important customers were off limits, so we searched among competitors and second-tier suppliers to truck and trailer builders, and approached competitors’ people without the client’s name until the client confirmed serious interest.
Decisions made on another continent
Every interview was scheduled across seven or eight hours. Finalists were assessed by the client’s own business psychologists by video, then flown to the United States to meet the group’s leadership. We ran the calendar, the briefings and the feedback in both directions.
Notice periods set the calendar
In Germany a senior manager’s notice period decides the earliest possible start. Missing a quarter-end deadline by a week can cost three months, so offers had to be timed backwards from it.
German employment law for a US employer
A German managing director is both the company’s legal representative and its employee. We advised on aligning the contract with the articles, on a staged route from business-development manager to director, and on a taxable car allowance, because the group had no company-car policy. And we asked for ink: an electronic signature would not have held.
A location people had to be persuaded to
In the second search many strong candidates declined because of the location or their career plans. We widened the net, used behavioural profiling to test fit, and presented a candidate whose role could grow as the business did.
Cross-border paperwork
A US parent paying a recruitment fee abroad meant stamped originals, acts of acceptance and bank currency checks. We handled the documents so the client only had to sign.
What we did
Three searches, three stages
- 2013 · The founding leader. A market map of about sixty suppliers, targeted calls, structured interviews and reference checks. First profiles within two weeks of the order. The chosen candidate went through the client’s psychologist assessment and a visit to the United States, and signed four months after the order, to start on 1 January.
- 2015 · Sales and marketing for Europe. The client came back for a general manager and a production manager. More than two hundred people approached; when direct suppliers of the client’s customers proved too settled, we moved the search to truck and component makers. We submitted candidates for both roles, profiled them, and placed an industry insider who knew the European trailer market and its buyers.
- 2016 · Plant operations. With assembly training under way, the client asked for someone to run the manual line, a team of about ten, the warehouse and the supply chain. We searched the region around the site by keyword and commuting distance, screened more than a hundred candidates, shortlisted within five weeks, and closed the hire in the summer.
The client came back to us twice without a tender. For executive search that is the review that counts.
In the client’s words
“[He] appears to be working out well in his role. I am still in need of a solid operations guy to run our plant.”
The client’s president, asking for the third search, 2016.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, its owners and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Opening a subsidiary in Europe?
The first hire decides how the next ten go. Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you what profile the role really needs and where to find it.
