A renowned medium-sized chemical company is planning the succession for the position of director of the sales division, who will be leaving the company on grounds of age. The successor should be appropriately qualified to take a place in the executive management in future. As the company itself operates in a niche market, the managing partner believes that the candidate should be someone with corresponding standing, as well as with good contacts in the sector and industry expertise.

An internal solution could not be found, as there were no suitable management individuals within the company at this time with appropriate qualifications. For this reason, we were brought in to fill the position within the framework of a targeted executive search.

We proceeded as follows:

• Preparing a requirement profile and identifying target companies in coordination with the executive management of the company
• Screening this particular niche sector using market analysis, and searching for further potential target companies
• Identifying interesting candidates in the respective companies through our research division and our existing network in the chemical industry
• Personally contacting selected candidates
• Conducting structured candidate interviews and preparing detailed candidate profiles
• Presenting candidates jointly determined together with the customer
• Supervising the negotiation phase up to the point of the final signing of a contract by the customer and the candidate

The conclusion:

It is always a particular challenge to find an executive for a niche sector. In this case, we managed within four months not only to successfully fill the position, but in accordance with the wishes of the executive management, were also able to offer the company a candidate with the potential to be promoted within a few years to the executive management.