Case Studies

Case 1

The Situation:

A Fortune 500 company called from Minneapolis on a Monday asking for help filling a Warehouse Manager position in St. Louis. The company had been increasing inventory levels trying to improve flagging service levels but the extra inventory just made it more difficult to find and pull the proper product resulting in the service levels continuing to decline, causing a flood of customer complaints. The company followed our suggestion to upgrade the Warehouse Manager credentials when the poorly qualified incumbent resigned out of frustration.

The Challenge:

The company agreed to schedule interviews in St. Louis for our candidates the following week, local candidates on Monday and candidates who would need to fly in, on Wednesday.

The Solution:

We built a team of consultants who recruited heavily both within the St. Louis area and nationally and we had our short list for the very next Monday and Wednesday. Interviews on Monday produced both a frontrunner and a backup candidate, so Wednesday's interviews, requiring air travel and candidate relocation, were cancelled. The decision was made and the offer was accepted by the leading candidate, who happened to be available to start immediately. He actually started the very next Monday, two weeks from their initial call for help.

The Results:

During the placement debrief, the company gave us an unsolicited testimonial recapping how we had saved them money. They had budgeted $20,000 for relocation and no relocation was required, and we had found a Warehouse Manager for $10,000 less than they were prepared to pay. They gave us credit for $15,000 for finding someone in two weeks while they had expected the search to take six weeks, as lost opportunity cost.

The real savings was accomplished over the next year. The new Warehouse Manager had committed to reach the targeted service level and also remove $1,000,000 from their inventory. He actually reduced their inventory by $2,000,000 and improved service 10% above their targeted level. In addition to saving the $2,000,000 and the $360,000 annual carrying cost on that inventory, our client's customers were happy once again.

Case 2

The Situation:

A $300MM revenue Atlanta based manufacturing division of a $3B revenue client had a business plan to form a new Engineering Services venture to be composed of a General Manager, two Engineering Specialists and a staff of four technicians and drafters. This business venture was expected to be financially in the black within a year and to grow to $12MM revenue and $3MM profits in three years.

The Solution:

In concurrence with the Company's Business Development Team we agreed that the company should try to find a General Manager from within the parent company. This would give this team leader internal-company-knowledge of other support networks within the company as well as the ability to call upon these internal sources for help, advice and internal services. As a search firm we agreed to take this General Manager job assignment on a contingency basis in order to have a backup from the outside in case no qualified internal candidate could be recruited to move to Atlanta for this assignment.

Since this was a new direction for the company, we knew the two Engineering Specialists did not currently exist within the company, so Professional Search of Atlanta took these two assignments as retained searches to gain critical speed and reliability of completion.

We agreed to fill the technician and drafter assignments as contingency assignments because we expected one or two of the four could possibly be found inside the company.

The Challenge:

Because expected revenue levels were known, we could calculate the lost opportunity cost being missed until the team could be formed and become functional. $3MM profits in year 3 equates to $250,000 per month, time adjusted to the current year.

The Results:

Within two months the group was up and operating. Within nine months the group was in the black and profitability stayed on target after that.

TESTIMONIALS

"Jon, I want to thank you, first and foremost, for the guidance and constructive input you provided during the interview process. You were very organized and pushed me to improve the presentation of myself.

From discussions I had with the hiring official, I know, they were very pleased with the assistance you provided them in sourcing a candidate for this position.

Now the fun begins. I am very excited about the opportunity you have introduced me to and hope to make the entire new management team proud of the choice they made.

Best Regards, Gary"

"Good Morning Jon,

Refreshing to hear professional out of somebody. (The other recruiter) does deserve loyalty. He put my resume in front of (the client company) early on. This is just one of those frustrating situations where you wonder what they want that I am missing? It seems like such a good fit.

Aneita"

"I received and accepted a middle management position from a large multinational corporation. In response to my initial resignation, I was offered and accepted an 18% increase to stay with my old employer. In less than one year, I was back on the market, not from being fired but from being sidelined in a position outside the management team. My employer has isolated me away from the rest of the team. My career suffered when I allowed myself to be bought back rather than holding fast to a commitment I made to join the new company. And there are two less companies for me to apply to now.

I wish I had read the article on the hazards of accepting a “buy back” from your present employer. After resigning to join another company, I actually set myself up for it. It happened just as the articles warned."

Mike

“Professional Search of Atlanta was founded in the early 90's by Jon Harvill, a recruiter and nationally recognized HR consultant. A family business, JD Harvill is part of this father and son team. Whenever one of our family business has a problematic HR issue or needs to fill a crucial position, I ask Jon and JD for their input. Since our clients are generational businesses, or hoping to be, Jon and JD provide valuable input as they are both savvy business men - but they also understand family business dynamics. I trust JD Harvill to provide unbiased recommendations that best meet the needs of our clients. This is a valuable business trait JD has learned, following in his dad's footsteps.”

Don Schwerzler, Managing Director, Family Business Institute