Growing Global Investment Firm Hires HR Director with Special Skills

OPPORTUNITY

The Chief Executive Officer of a growing investment adviser with multiple global subsidiaries recognized the need for a more senior human resources leader to support the firm's significant investment in an Asian expansion.  

While basic corporate HR functions were efficient, the department lacked vision.  Line managers increasingly called for additional talent management support, complex compensation support, faster and more effective recruiting in multiple countries, and more guidance on employee management issues. As frustration mounted, the senior team was concerned that the lack of a "2.0 HR Leader" was putting the firm's expansion efforts at risk, but did not have a consensus about what the role required.   

In hopes that the marketplace would help define the role, the firm started a search.  The results were confusing and disappointing, and the firm was dissatisfied with the quality of its candidate pool.

PROCESS

First, the firm hired ReGroup to help senior management achieve consensus related to what the new HR role required. ReGroup assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the existing staff and systems, and conducted a needs analysis for both the existing business lines and what would be necessary to support anticipated global growth.  ReGroup presented the data, and a position profile that detailed responsibilities, compensation, priorities, and measurements of success for the role, and worked with the senior team to achieve consensus.

Second, the firm hired ReGroup to conduct a search.  We assessed the firm's previous search process, strategy and messaging to identify potential opportunities and obstacles for a second search effort. We interviewed key industry contacts and HR directors in our networks to test and refine our assumptions. Based on these findings, we designed and conducted a talent search targeting high-performing, high-potential candidates and used a robust, multi-layered screening process that limited the client’s time and resource expenditure.

RESULTS

Establishing role clarity, brand management, and solid candidate expectations prior to approaching the marketplace increased the size and quality of the candidate pool while also providing the firm with a more informed and efficient candidate evaluation and selection process. The firm secured a new and visionary HR professional with global expertise in half the time of their previous failed search.