5 August 2022
Wanted… Genuine leader (who also happens to be a Finance Director)
From sales and marketing to talent attraction and retention, the values of a company are key. Maintaining those values means that cultural fit has become an increasingly important part of the recruitment process. This is where the latest assessment and profiling tools can help.
The Challenge
MSC Industrial Supply Co, in Wednesbury, had reached £50m in sales, was disrupting the market, and had ambitions to double sales over the next five years. They were absolutely committed to a culture of empowerment and had clear views on the values, beliefs, and behaviour their leaders should exhibit (as championed in the book Turn the Ship Around! By L. David Marquet). They weren’t great believers in a CV or competency-based interview approach – “it’s too easy for a smart person to do well in this kind of process” – they were searching for a values fit. As such, the MD spoke to several recruiters before selecting Seymour John to support the hiring process on a retained basis.
The Solution
To get under the company’s cultural skin, we, of course, bought the book. Tapping into our combined networks, advertising, and running proactive searches, using our advanced suite of technologies and talent-platform access, we interviewed a lot of candidates. Four were recommended for interview.
As an integrated people and performance consultancy, we offer clients complete talent solutions. As such, we drew on the expertise of one of our in-house strategic HR consultants who ran sophisticated personality profiling and emotional intelligence testing prior to second-stage interviews. To see Finance Directors who profiled more like Sales Directors reassured us that we were meeting the challenging brief.
The Result
An offer was made, and the preferred candidate accepted. It was a long, three-month journey, but when the MD told us it had taken up to a year to find the right leader in a previous recruitment process, we were pleased to have found the right fit so quickly.
5 August 2022