Executive Search - Case Studies
Case Study 4 - Relocation to Canada - Equipment manufacturer - Project Manager / Design Engineer
This international appointment was highly cost-effective and fast, based on a combined advertising and search approach process. Our client was delighted with the result and the price; and we kept expenses to a minimum.
We received an email from a specialist Canadian equipment manufacturer who had been looking unsuccessfully for a Design Engineer for a long time. They designed bespoke equipment for blue chip customers and their order book was bulging. In this 60 person company, they needed someone experienced in project managing his own work and dealing from start to finish with the customer. Could we find a specialist Designer in UK who would move to Canada, and was the remuneration attractive? They had the all clear to obtain the necessary work permit.
Our research indicated that good designers were as rare here as across the Atlantic but we weighed the rare opportunity for candidates to get into Canada against the downside factors and reckoned that it had great appeal. We advised the client we should advertise and also make direct approaches so we could cover the market comprehensively. The companies in this industry in UK tend to structure in such as way that the experience we wanted came only with owners/directors of small firms or, in larger ones, the design people were in the back office and mostly the sales team talked to customers. Of the few people who were suited, most had young families, spouses with good jobs, or no interest in working in Canada or overseas, etc.
We persisted. We came across an engineer with an excellent degree and big company experience overseas. He had a 'real' engineer's interest in and ability to think solutions and innovation from sound engineering principles, which he had demonstrated frequently in his career. With his permission, we called his Engineering boss, General Manager and Project Manager in the Far East and obtained effusive references. On the strength of the evidence, the client flew him and another very interesting candidate to Canada, where they mutually agreed this was an excellent match. He joined them as soon as the paperwork and Immigration allowed, and settled in well.
Sometimes, there are very few ideal matches. It takes commitment and persistence.