Case Study

Multiple Advisor Positions, Government Organisation, UAE

 The Challenge

Our client, the largest provider of infrastructure development and management in the state of Qatar, was seeking to adopt best international practice to continue to provide and maintain state-of-the-art infrastructure that fully met the national economic and social development plans of the country.

 Our remit was to conduct an international Executive Search to identify 18 exceptional highly skilled individuals from an array of disciplines, organisations and countries as advisors to the business. Our challenge was that different business units required a very different thought process, research process and subsequent headhunting strategy.

The end goal was to source advisors who would be able to add immediate value to the existing business by up-skilling local individuals who in many cases were less experienced and yet more senior.  This made the task particularly difficult as many of the people highlighted held the most senior of positions.

The Approach

Working closely with the general manager of the business and the individual stake-holders, we spent a great deal of time defining the technical and interpersonal specifics of each role.  The nature of the business meant the mapping exercise was not a simple process; certain units sought candidates from the US, others from Europe, with some from Australia. Competitor organisations and businesses with transferable competencies were mapped by our dedicated research team, and a team of specialist recruiters were then tasked with ascertaining interest and headhunting appropriate individuals.

The process is still on-going, and we have had the challenge of the business move from a private sector organisation to a government one. The implications have been massive from the approach that we have adopted and have meant that we have had to be reactive and nimble with sudden changes in requirements, compensation allowances, and remuneration in general and interview process.

Today

The relationship goes from strength to strength. We have filled a number of the positions with the remainder being at interview or offer stage.