Case Study

Global Tech Solutions Provider Closes Executive Leadership Gaps

 

Rapid Expansion Prompts
Leadership Skills Needs

New product offerings and strategic acquisitions enabled a global technology solutions provider to pursue previously unattainable clients and contracts. To succeed would require an overhaul of its sales and finance operations – specifically, visionary leaders across a diverse set of skills who could drive cultural change and align with its future vision.

60%
Reduction in time-to-fill
against industry averages
39%
Decrease in total cost-per-hire against industry averages
8
Hard-to-fill hires in
less than 3 months

Core Challenges: Promoting the Employer Brand with Speed and Tact

After engaging Sevenstep as its recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider, the client and Sevenstep determined that eight team members across seven hard-to-fill role types would be needed to meet its growth objectives. But they had to address three primary challenges to get there:
 
 
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Competing for Top-Tier Software Sales Leaders: Attracting a senior vice president (VP) of sales, a sales VP and a regional sales director to a business focused heavily on IT solutions, project management and physical networking meant competing for talent against more popular software and programming technology firms. Overcoming this hurdle was crucial to optimize the sales team structure and promote new offerings to targeted customers.
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Acting Quickly to Fill High-Demand Finance Roles: Elevating the company’s financial analysis capabilities to support business growth meant attracting high-demand finance leadership roles in an accelerated timeframe, including a VP of financial planning and analysis (FP&A), a finance operations VP, two directors of FP&A, and a director of finance and accounting.
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Driving Change with Tact and Diplomacy: Navigating rapid change meant identifying leaders capable of driving this transformation with tact and diplomacy. This was crucial to ensuring positive growth without disruption and facilitating sustainable progress.

Path to Success: Refining Strategies to Target High-Value Hybrid Skillsets

Sevenstep's executive search solution positioned the client as an employer of choice to attract top-tier executive candidates with technical, sales, finance and leadership knowledge. We achieved this through the following steps:
 
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Understanding Client Needs: Our process began with comprehensive consultations to understand the client’s requirements, challenges and growth objectives, and organizational culture. This effort included defining qualities that constituted an ideal candidate aligned with their values and ethos.
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Refining the Value Proposition: Using this knowledge, we refined the client’s value proposition to target accomplished software sales leaders and forward-thinking finance professionals skilled in strategic planning and team development.
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Tailored Recruitment Strategies: We deployed personalized recruitment strategies (e.g., optimized job descriptions, market analysis, consultation on salary competitiveness and targeted candidate outreach) alongside traditional talent search methods. By maintaining open communication channels, we provided real-time updates on strategy developments and candidate feedback.
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Incorporating Market Intelligence: Upon expanding the partnership to an enterprise-wide program, we incorporated market intelligence into ongoing advisory sessions using our proprietary Sevayo® Insights integration and analytics platform, ensuring our approach remained agile and informed by industry trends.

 

Key Results: Timely Hires Across Eight Hard-to-Fill Executive Roles

  • A 60% Reduction in Time-to-Fill Against Industry Averages: Ranging from 29 days to 3 months versus accepted averages of four to six months for executive directors and above
  • A 39% Reduction in Total Cost-Per-Hire Against Industry Averages: Showcasing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of partnering with Sevenstep over traditional retained search firms
  • 4 VP-Level Placements: Including placing all needed executives across sales and finance
  • On-Time Corporate Strategy Results: Providing the leadership presence to sustain momentum toward the client’s growth objectives with rapid turnaround and timely quality hires
  • Change Readiness for Future Hires: Establishing baseline culture and company knowledge needed to execute future hiring needs at director and VP levels
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