THE CHALLENGE
A global HVAC Engineering firm needs to hire a top performing Application Engineer with strong GCC customer knowledge reporting directly to the area sales manager. Requirement is specific because the new area sales manager is working aggressively to reach the milestone sales target for year 2018-2019. The HR head is based out of the UK, and will conduct the final round of interviews once the Sales Manager approves three candidates for the role. Due to the sales manager’s hectic travel schedule, it was even more crucial for us to deliver promising candidates within a short lead time candidates.
STRATEGY
After having meeting with the area sales manager and a candid conversation with the HR to understand the functional and cultural needs for the position, Nithya , a senior consultant was asked to lead the search.
Nithya approached the search by creating detailed list for this JOB ORDER including job specification and job requirement list. That kind of attention to detail was given to give long-term value to the search.
A challenging aspect of the search involved looking for candidates with the following specifications:
• Academic background and achievements.
• Key Performance Indicators in the last two roles (3 years plus).
• Reporting Structure.
• MENA key customer knowledge.
• Language proficiency (English / Arabic / French).
• Creating long-term solutions that are geared towards customer success.
• Sound knowledge of contract documents.
• Flexibility to work outside normal work hours/weekends, as required.
• Sufficient knowledge in building automation systems, drafting tools (Autocad).
• Superuser of MS office applications.
• Motivation to seek a new challenge.
A detailed questionnaire was specifically created for the position and a company/candidate mapping list was created. Nithya reached into nearly all of them to find out who would be a right candidate for the assignment. Our turn around time was 9 working days which lead to a shortlist of candidates out of which top 5 were a good fit for the role.
A detailed spreadsheet was shared with the Area Sales Manager and the HR head, who gave a nod for the first 4 candidates.
It was time to test their work skills using our online toolkit. We conducted (customized) online based tests on the following topics:
• Domain test including equipment design, reading and interpreting engineering data and customer specifications.
• Behavioral/Personality assessment.
The results of these tests were then analyzed and shared with the Area Sales Manager and the HR head.
THE RESULT
In just ten business days, Edge Executive presented its client with five qualified and interested candidates of whom one was eventually hired as a Sr. Application Engineer. This is how we planned our deliverables:
• 2 Business Days: Mapped candidate profiles
• 10 Business Days: Presented shortlist of 5 candidates who fit the bill
• 15 business Days: Presented the online real time results of skill and behavioral assessment.
VALUE-ADD
Sales Manager says,
“Nithya approached it with an intensity that I think contributed to searching Maya who is contributing significantly to the sales department. Many thanks.”
ROI (client side):
• Candidate selected by Edge Executive contributed to 3 new customers in the region.
• On time, on budget work flow.
• Candidate also won new projects worth 2 million AED in 2018-2019 (within 8 months of being hired).
• Candidate added to cultural diversity in the organization.