Software firm needed 2 HR Senior Directors replaced concurrently

The client, a major US-based software technology firm, asked us to conduct 2 confidential searches in parallel to replace their sitting Regional FP&A Head and their North Asia HR Head.

The main challenge would be to conduct thorough searches while keeping them both confidential. Each role had different report lines, one in region and one to the HQ, and each hiring manager was driving their searches with assistance from regional HR which complicated attempts to streamline process.

The client felt the FP&A role required someone with a software background which would naturally narrow the candidate pool. The HR role required someone with strong leadership and business partnering skills, which were generally standard requirements for this kind of position. However, the HR requirement was even more sensitive than that of the FP&A. The Client felt a misstep on the search could cause significant issues with the team that’s why the search would need to be cautiously executed.

For both searches we minimized market awareness of the roles by presenting the company name only to those candidates we felt were genuinely qualified and open to consider a career move. All candidates were required to sign NDAs.

To expand the pool of candidates for the FP&A role we leveraged market data we brought together to demonstrate the limited pool of qualified candidates in the software space. This prompted the client to consider candidates without software in their background but who had strong tech company experience.

In the end, the client was exceptionally pleased that both roles were filled efficiently and without drama. 2 years later both candidates are still in place and performing as originally expected.